174 LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



but it must be considered rare east of the Mississippi River, and is not a 

 common species anywhere within the limits of the United States. It extends 

 over the South American continent to the Argentine Republic. Within our 

 borders it is perhaps most often found in California, where it is a constant 

 resident. It probably also winters in Louisiana and southern Texas. Strag- 

 glers are reported to occasionally reach Michigan, where Gr. A. Stockwell is 

 said to have met with it. 



The first eggs of this species, a set of four, obtained by the Smith- 

 sonian Institution, were taken by Mr. J. H. Clark, May 9, 1861, near Fort 

 Arbuckle, Indian Territory, and are now in the collection. 



Prof. B. W. Evermann took several sets in California, in 1880 and 1881. 

 He writes me: "I found my first set, containing three eggs, May 4, 1880. 

 They were nearly ready to hatch. The nest was near the end of one of 

 the topmost limbs of a cottonwood (Populus) near Santa Paula. It was 

 constructed of coarse sticks, lined with shreds or strippings of the inner dead 

 bark of the cottonwood. I took no others in 1880, but in 1881 I met with 

 better success. On April 12, I got a set of four and another of five eggs, 

 all fresh. These nests were placed in the extreme tops of two unusually 

 tall live oaks (perhaps 45 or 50 feet from the ground), and, like the other, 

 were rather flat structures of sticks, lined with the same material as the 

 first, with the addition of a little straw (barley, I think). These two nests 

 were also found near Santa Paula. In one of them a second set was laid 

 early in June. 



"The actions of this species when their nest is approached are inter- 

 esting. I think in every case the bird would leave the nest while I was 

 quite a distance from the tree, and quietly fly off to another near by. There 

 it would remain until I had nearly reached the nest, when it would fly 

 toward me, and when about 20 to 30 feet above me and the nest, it would 

 balance itself in the air as Sparrow Hawks and Bluebirds often do, and with 

 legs hanging down would utter its distress note a few times and then fly 

 away, probably not to return again, but simply to watch me from some tree 

 top several rods away. The note, as I remember it, is a broken cry or scream. 

 When the female hovered oyer my head, the male made his appearance also, 

 but came no nearer than a tree several rods away. 



"On November 20, 1880, I shot a White-tailed Kite from a telegraph 

 pole while sitting in my buggy, and as it fell to the ground its mate flew 

 to it, and was also secured. I do not regard this bird as at all common. 

 I have seen solitary individuals skimming over the fields near San Buena- 

 ventura, the marshes up towards Saticoy, and at various other places up 

 the Santa Clara Valley, as far as Newhall, 50 miles from the coast." 



Mr. L. Belding gives the White-tailed Kite as a constant and common 

 resident about Stockton, California, and says: "I have seen as many as 

 twenty at the same moment within a circle of half a mile. I have also 

 noticed it at Marysville in winter. It is rarely seen away from the tule 

 marshes." 



