Vol. XIV 
Bay Bartow, Nesting Habits of White-tailed Kite. 19 
the nest on my approach. The eggs of this set average smaller 
than those of the first laying of the same birds, and one specimen 
is particularly bright in coloration. The parent bird attacked me 
as in the first instance, but soon gave up the battle and alighted 
near by. This set is now in the collection of Mr. C. W. Crandall. 
This spring I was interested to see if these birds would prove 
as early breeders as in 1895, so on March 10, 1896, I visited their 
domain and found that the last year’s nest had been added to and 
freshly lined, and four eggs deposited. The nest was twenty feet 
from the ground. Incubation was fully one-third advanced, which 
corresponded approximately as to date with the laying of the 
former season. The birds showed the same aggressive spirit, 
which in itself seems a trait amply sufficient to distinguish this 
particular pair. This set of eggs is also in Mr. Crandall’s 
collection. 
The Kites now repaired to their location of the previous year, 
where they built a new nest in a scraggly live oak twenty-five feet 
from the ground, and which contained four eggs on March 29. 
The set was not collected. Nineteen days had been required to 
build a new nest and deposit a set of four eggs, while in 1895 
twenty-two days were occupied in performing the same duties. 
This pair of birds have never used a nest the second time during 
the same season. I fully expect to find them amid their familiar 
surroundings next spring, and judging from the occurrence of white 
eggs in their layings, I consider that they have occupied the 
present locality for many years. 
On April 13, 1895, a third pair of Kites were found occupying 
a grove of trees ina grainfield, where there was a plentiful food 
supply. Their uneasy actions indicated a nest in the vicinity, 
and careful search revealed an old one in the top of a tall oak. 
It contained numerous dried-up pellets, which are found in nests 
in which a brood has been reared, and which are no doubt ejected 
by the young after being fed. The new nest was found a short 
distance away, thirty-five feet up in a live oak, and smaller than 
the average in size. It was lined with dry stubble, a small guan- 
tity of Spanish moss and a few feathers from the parent bird. 
Four eggs constituted the set, three being one-half advanced in 
incubation while the fourth was infertile. The eggs were quite 
