40 
BIRDS OF PREY. 
sissippi territory, twenty or thirty being sometimes visible at 
the same time , often collecting locusts and other large insects, 
which they are said to feed on from their claws while flying, 
at times also seizing upon the nests of locusts and wasps, and, 
like the Honey Buzzard, devouring both the insects and their 
larvae. Snakes and lizards are their common food in all parts 
of America. In the month of October they begin to retire to 
the South, at which season Mr. Bartram observed them in 
great numbers assembled in Florida, soaring steadily at great 
elevations for several days in succession, and slowly passing 
towards their winter quarters along the Gulf of Mexico. From 
the other States they migrate early in September. 
This species is most abundant in tlie western division of the Gulf 
States, but is irregularly distributed over the Southern, Western, 
and Middle States. It has occasionally visited New England, and 
examples have been seen in Manitoba and near London and 
Ottawa in Ontario. 
EVERGLADE KITE. 
BLACK KITE. HOOK-BILL KITE. SNAIL HAWK. 
Rostrhanius SOCIABILIS. 
Char. Prevailing color dull bluish ash, darker on tail, wings, and an- 
terior portion of head ; rump white, with terminal bar of light brown ; 
bill black ; feet orange. Length i 6 to iS inches. 
AW. A platform with a slight depression, composed of sticks or dried 
grass, built in a low bush or amid tall grass. 
2-3 ; brownish white blotched with various shades of brown ■ 
1.70 X 1.45- 
This is a tropical species that occurs in Florida. Mr. W. E. D. 
Scott reports finding it abundant at Panasofkee Lake, and says : 
Their food at this point apparently consists of a kind of large 
fresh-water snail which is very abundant. . . . They fish over the 
shallow water, reminding one of gulls in their motions; and having 
secured a snail by diving, they immediately carry it to the nearest 
available perch, when the animal is dexterously taken from the 
shell, without injury to the latter.” 
