130 BIRDS OP ALABAMA 



of Bear Swamp in 1886, but all were killed off about 1889. 

 I have observed the species only twice in the State — at Castle- 

 berry, May 31, 1911, when I saw a pair flying high over the 

 timbered bottoms cutting figures in the air, and on the Ten- 

 saw River, near Stockton, May 27, 1914. 



General habits. — The Mississippi kite arrives from the 

 south about the last of April and departs early in fall. It is 

 not a shy bird and the ease with which it may be approached 

 doubtless had much to do with the reduction of its numbers. 

 The nests are placed in the tops of tall trees, pines or oaks 

 often being chosen, and are often ornamented with green 

 twigs in leaf. This kite is a swift and strong flyer, often 

 ascending to a great height and suddenly pitching downward 

 nearly to earth with the swiftness of an arrow, but quickly 

 checking its descent and rising again with the same impetus to 

 at least half its former elevation; it sometimes turns com- 

 pletely over in the air like a tumbler pigeon. It feeds while 

 on the wing or in a tall tree, rarely alighting on the ground. 

 In some loca:lities it is known as the "mosquito hawk." 



Food habits. — Like the other kites, this is an eminently use- 

 ful species, feeding, as it does, upon beetles, grasshoppers, 

 locusts, lizards, small snakes, and frogs. Gosse mentions hav- 

 ing examined a stomach which contained two cicadas and a 

 large dragonfly.^ 



MARSH HAWK: Circus cyaneus hudsonius (Linnaeus).* 



State records. — The marsh hawk is a common migrant and 

 locally a common winter resident. It may occasionally nest 

 in the State, but there is no breeding record and it is rare in 

 summer anywhere in the Gulf States. Migrants appear quite 

 early in fall and remain until March or April. McCormack 

 records them at Leighton, September 19 and 23 (1893) ; Octo- 

 ber 7 to 19 (1891). Avery shot specimens at Greensboro, 

 March 17 (1888), September 17 (1889), and September 23 

 (1890). Golsan observed the species at Autaugaville, No- 

 vember 9, 1912. Gutsell noted 1 at Orange Beach, Septem- 



tGosse, P. H., Letters from Alabama, pp. 217-218, 1859. 



•Circus hudsonius of the A. O. U. Check-list; for change of name see The Auk. vol. 

 35, p. 206, 1918. 



