SWALLOW-TAILED KITE. 



21 



altliougli bruised, the rest broken into large pieces several inches long. 

 * • * In another male shot in the same, country, on the same day, 

 the stomach contained a slender snake 19 inches long, six lizards, and 

 four beautiful, very large coleopterous insects, with two eggs of rep- 

 tiles 7^ twelfths long." (Ornith. Biography, vol. V, pp. 372-374.) 



Mr. Henshaw informs me that he found these Kites common on the 

 Miami Eiver, southeast Florida, and frequently saw them in mid air 

 feeding upon snakes, which appeared to be their favorite food in that 

 locality. 



Glancing over the bill of fare of this Kite, it wiU at once appear that 

 while there are many of the rapacious birds which perform greater 

 service to the farmers in the destruction of his foes, there are few which 

 are less injurious. The snakes, lizards, and frogs it destroys, though 

 by no means injurious to agriculture, probably will be regretted by 

 few, while the insect food, especially the grasshoppers and cotton worms, 

 not only can be spared, but their destruction may be considered a pos- 

 itive benefit. 



■ It probably breeds in suitable localities throughout its range, even to 

 the northern limit. Its nest has been taken in Minnesota, and accord- 

 ing to a very interesting note by Mr. Austin F. Park, it is very probable 

 that a pair bred in Eensselaer County, N. T., in 1886. (The Auk, vol. 

 Ill, p. 484.) In the southern part of the United States this species begins 

 to breed about the last of April or first of May, while farther north it 

 is past the middle of the latter month before a full complement of eggs 

 is deposited. The nest is situated in the tops of the tallest trees 

 and is placed among the smaller branches, where it is well hidden by 

 the thick foliage. Occasionally it is built toward the end of a large 

 limb, 20 feet or more from the main trunk, the supporting branch 

 usually being not more than a few inches in diameter. The nest often- 

 times is a rude structure, made of sticks only, and resembles closely in 

 appearance that of some of the herons, while others are more substan- 

 tial, from the lining of Spanish moss or soft inner bark of the cotton- 

 wood which they contain; rarely a nest is composed almost entirely of 

 Spanish moss. 



The number of eggs in a set is usually two, though three, four, and 

 probably even more are sometimes deposited. Audubon found a nest 

 near the Falls of the Ohio, in 1820, which contained four young. The male 

 is very attentive and assists the female in building the nest and incuba- 

 ting the eggs, as well as in collecting a large proportion of the food for the 

 young. After the breeding season this Kite is more or less gregarious; 

 families of four or five are usually found together and occasionally 

 flocks of fifty or more. This species is quite wary and diflacult to ap- 

 proach, but if one of a flock is killed or wounded the others will fly 

 around it, and a number may be secured before they take alarm and 

 move off. 



