138 LAND BIRDS 



328. WHITE-TAJLED KITE. — Elanus leucurus. 



Family : The Falcons^ Hawksj Eagles, etc. 



Length: 15.50-17.00. 



Adults : Upper parts slate-color ; top of head and tail white ; a patch of 



black on each shoulder and around each eye ; under parts uniform 



pure white. 

 Young: Similar to adults, hut tinged with rusty, and more or less 



streaked with dark gray ; wing-feathers tipped with white ; under 



parts streaked with yellow-brown ; tail with a dusky band. 

 Geographical Distribution : Tropical America north to San Francisco on 



the Pacific coast ; on the Atlantic coast to latitude 37°. 

 Breeding Mange : The central portions of California, west of the Sierra 



Nevada. 

 Breeding Season : April 1 to June 1. 

 j\^est: Placed high in a tree ; a platform of sticks, lined with straw and 



grasses. 

 Eggs: 3 to 5 ; dull huffy white, spotted and tinged with chestnut over 



the entire surface. Size 1.72 X 1.30. 



The White-tailed Kite is a fairly common resident of the 

 interior valleys of California west of the Sierra Nevada, 

 north to Red Bluif and south as far as Los Angeles. Its 

 nest is always placed just as far from the ground as pos- 

 sible, in a sycamore or oak or maple tree, and is a 

 loosely constructed platform of sticks, occasionally lined 

 with straw. In Santa Clara valley the birds are not at 

 all uncommon ; they nest in the oak groves from April 1 

 to May 1. They remain paired all the year, and may be 

 seen hunting together over the fresh and salt water 

 marshes. Mr. W. K. Fisher records them as preying 

 upon the field mice in the vicinity of San Francisco Bay. 

 They are common at Alviso in the early morning, hover- 

 ing over the marshes, as kingfishers do over water, be- 

 fore plunging downward for a strike. Graceful and easy 



