Mississippi Kite in Nebraska 40? 



Wbite-bveastecl Nuthatch 2 



Red-breastecT Nuthatch 1 



Tufted Tit 6 5 



Chickadee 3 2 



Wood Tlu-ush 19 21 



Veery 17 22 



Gray-cheeked Thrush 1 2 



Olive-backed Thrush 5 8 



American Robin 94 82 



Bluebird 4 8 



MISSISSIPPI KITE IN NEBRASKA.* 



BY PROFESSOR B. H. BAILEY. 



In " Birds of Nebraska," by L. Bruner, R. H. Wolcott and 

 M. H. Swenk, page 50, Ictinia mississippiensis (Wilson) A. 

 O. U. No. 329 is referred to as follows : " While the known 

 rang'e of this kite would bring it within our borders, the rec- 

 ord by R. E. Dinges as given in Bruners' ' Notes on Nebraska 

 Birds ' is very likely an error," 



The A. O. U. check list gives its range as " Lower Austral 

 Zone from Kansas, Iowa, Illinois, Southern Indiana, and 

 South Carolina, South to Texas and Florida ; winters in 

 Florida, Southern Texas and South rarely to Guatermala ; 

 accidental in Colorado, South Dakota, Wisconsin and Penn- 

 sylvania." 



While in Omaha, Neb., the writer purchased for the Coe 

 College Museum a specimen of this species which was in a 

 local taxidermist's shop, and which was shot by the man from 

 whom the bird was purchased. 



The kite was killed a few miles south of Omaha in No- 

 vember, 1912, and although the sex was not determined at 

 the time it was mounted, the following description from the 

 work by N. S. Goss, " History of the Birds of Kansas," is 

 SO' in accord with the specimen in hand as to leave no doubt 

 that this bird is a young female. " Head, neck and lower 

 parts white with a yellowish tinge; this most perceptible on 

 the tibiae. Each feather with a median ovate spot of black- 

 * Read before Iowa Academy of Science, May 1st, 1915. 



