THE MISSISSIPPI KITE. 
77 
poor birds, seeing their tenement cast down to the ground, continued 
sweeping around us so low and so long, that I could not resist the tempta- 
tion 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 betweeu 
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. Amer. 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. 3*74. 
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 edge ft; tarsus If. 
