THE MISSISSIPPI KITE. 77 



poor birds, seeing their tenement cast down to the ground, continued sweep- 

 ing around us so low and so long, that I could not resist the temptation thus 

 offered of shooting them. 



The Mississippi Kite is by no means a shy bird, and one may generally 

 depend on getting near it when alighted; but to follow it while on wing 

 were useless, its flight being usually so elevated, and its sweeps over a field 

 or wood so rapid and varied, that you might spend many hours in vain in 

 attempting to get up with it. Even when alighted, it perches so high, that 

 I have sometimes shot at it, without producing any other effect than that of 

 causing it to open its wings and close them again, as if utterly ignorant of 

 the danger to which it had been exposed, while it seemed to look down upon 

 me quite unconcerned. When wounded^, it comes to the ground with great 

 force, and seldom attempts to escape, choosing rather to defend itself, which 

 it does to the last, by throwing itself on its back, erecting the feathers of its 

 head, screaming loudly in the manner of the Pigeon Hawk, disgorging the 

 contents of its stomach, stretching out its talons, and biting or clenching with 

 great vigour. It is extremely muscular, the flesh tough and rigid. 



These birds at times search for food so far from the spot where their nest 

 has been placed, that I have on several occasions been obliged to follow their 

 course over the woods, as if in search of a wild bee's hive, before I could 

 discover it. There is scarcely any perceptible difference between the sexes 

 as to size, and in colour they are precisely similar, only the female has less 

 of the ferruginous colour on her primaries than the male. The stomach is 

 thin, rugous, and of a deep orange colour. 



Mississippi Kite, Falco Mississippiensis, Wils. Araer. Orn., vol. iii. p. 80. 



Falco plumbeus, Bonap. Syn., p. 90. 



Mississippi Kite, Falco plumbeus, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. ii. p. 108, vol. v. p. 374. 



Adult male. 



Wings long and pointed, the third quill longest. Tail long, straight, 

 retuse. 



Bill black, as are the cere, lore, and a narrow band round the eye. Iris 

 blood-red. Feet purplish, the scutella deep red; claws black. The head, 

 the neck all round, and the under parts in general bluish-white. The back 

 and wing-coverts are of a dark leaden colour, the ends of the secondary 

 coverts white. The primaries black, margined externally with bright bay; 

 the tail also deep black, as is the rump. 



Length 14 inches; extent of wings 36; bill along the ridge \\, along the 

 ed g e \h tarsus If. 



