20 Bartow, Nesting Habits of White-tailed Kite. Eee 
Jan. 
round in shape. Both birds remained perched on a white oak a 
short distance away, and showed little concern. 
This year I did not visit these birds until March 29, when a 
short search brought one and then both birds to view. They flew 
about uneasily, uttering their plaintive whistle, while I looked for 
the nest. - Presently it was found in the extreme top of a slender 
oak, thirty-five feet from the ground, and contained four eggs 
which were fresh. The nest was 18 inches in diameter and lined 
with long, dry grass. ‘Two-of the eggs of this set are of the bright 
coloration. The eggs of this pair of Kites are considerably 
rounder than any others I have taken. The set is now in the 
collection of the U. S. National Museum. 
During the early spring of the present year my collecting trips 
took me through the hills to a great degree and here I found a 
pair of Kites located in a most picturesque spot. On February 
23, the birds were observed in a canon, giving chase to a Western 
Red-tailed Hawk, which had evidently trespassed upon their ter- 
ritory, after which they slowly flew back and perched on a fence 
on the hillside. On March 8, the nest was found containing two 
eggs. Both birds were near but showed little anxiety when I 
climbed to the nest. On March 14, I again visited the nest, this 
time during a shower, and both birds were very quiet. ‘The male 
was doing look-out duty on a favorite post of a fence bordering 
the canon, while the female was on the nest. She left when I 
began to climb the tree and joined her mate. The nest held four 
eggs, which are quite round in shape, and two of them are of the © 
handsome reddish coloration. ‘The nest was fifteen inches across 
and six inches thick, with quite a depression in the center, as was 
necessary, for the nest was 50 feet from the ground in the top- 
most branch and subject to high winds which swept up the canon. 
The birds flew high overhead, uttering their plaintive whistle but 
making no attack. The nest was beautifully situated, being in 
the top of a high oak which was covered with streamers of Span- 
ish moss, and the view down the canon was unusually picturesque. 
The birds were observed at different points for three weeks 
when they finally began a new nest in a small scraggly oak near 
the head of the canon. When not at work on the nest both birds 
would sit for long intervals on a dead tree near by, without mak- 
