LOGIST. 
83 84 
Nesting of the Swallow- tailed Kite 
in Texas. 
On the twenty-fifth of April, 1888, my friend, 
Mr. Tliomas S. Gillin, and myself, with two 
guides, started on an extended wagon trip 
through the central and southern counties of 
Texas, which we finished on the fifteenth of 
May, having traveled over four hundred miles, 
and through some of the worst country and 
hottest weather I ever experienced. 
On April 26th, as we were riding through a 
post-oak belt, we saw our first Swallow-tails. 
First we saw an immense flock of Mississippi 
Kites coming down towards us from the north- 
ward before what afterwards turned out to be a 
heavy shower. Back of them, and in the middle 
of the rain, came the Swaliow-taiis (Elamides 
forJicatAis) flying low over the tops of the trees. 
They had the motions of the Night Hawk 
(Chordeiles popetue), and although we were 
in plain sight and had shot several Mississippi 
Kites {IcMnia subccerulea), they did not appear 
to notice us in the least. The Swallow-tails 
seemed to follow a certain direction, darting 
down now and then to pick a lizard off a tree, 
which they did with the greatest ease and dex- 
terity; but the Mississippi Kites seemed un- 
settled, and drifted back and forth from north 
to south, or east to west, just as the wind 
blew. 
From this we judged that the Swallow-tails 
were returning to their nests and mates 
from an expedition after food, and thought 
that if we were to follow the general direction 
they took we might find them breeding. 
We went on for about ten miles and came to 
a river lined on either side with immense 
cottonwood trees. Here we saw several Kites 
sailing, darting and skimming along close to 
the surface of the water. As I looked I 
thought them the most graceful creatures I 
had ever seen. From a great height they 
would dart down like lightening to within, it 
seemed to me, an inch of the water, and then, 
turning over on one side, glide along like a 
shadow for a short distance, then up again in 
a beautiful curve, to repeat the same perfor- 
mance. 
In their upward flight, I saw them several 
times pick lizards from off the branches of 
trees, with the utmost ease and without paus- 
ing for an instant. When two met in the air, 
which they often did, they compared notes in 
their loud peculiar voice — a sort of a twitter- 
ing scream. 
The beautiful river flowing swiftly along be- 
tween its high banks; the magnificent trees, 
festooned with Spanish moss; the brilliant 
flowers; the solitude; and these lovely birds, 
in their graceful gyrations; all combined to 
make a perfect picture. How I wished for an 
instantaneous camera ! 
We stood for a long time taking in the 
scene, not wishing to spoil it. But as it was 
getting on in the afternoon we began to look 
around for the nests. Further down the river 
we at length found several, all situated in the 
very tops of the highest cottonwoods. They 
were very hard to find, for they were built so 
high, and so very cleverly concealed, that when 
you did spy one, it looked more like a bunch of 
moss than a nest. 
With the aid of our field glass, we at length 
saw a bird sitting on one, and my friend Mr. 
Gillin determined to climb to it. It can be 
imagined what he had before him when I say 
that the tree was six feet in diameter at the 
base, the first branch was eighty feet from the 
ground, and the nest over one hundred and 
twenty-five feet up, on a branch about as thick 
as a man’s arm. But Mr. Gillin is an indefati- 
gable climber, and had a good pair of irons, 
and, after a great deal of hard work, reached 
the nest to be rewarded with two beautiful 
fresh eggs. The bird waited till he was within 
a few feet of her before she left the nest. This 
set of eggs measures 2.05x1.48, 2.00x1. .51, 
and are marked as follows: First egg has a 
white ground color, tinged with a very faint 
shadow of yellow; the smaller end heavily 
marked with large irregular blotches of chest- 
nut or dark brown. The other egg is marked 
heavier at the larger end with same colored 
ORNITHOLOGIST 
[Vol. 14-No. 6 
spots as egg No. 1, and the smaller end is 
cover-ed with very small specks of reddish- 
brown; ground color is the same as the other 
egg. 
The nest I brought home with me, and I 
describe it as it lies before me; It is about one 
foot wide by two feet long, and four inches 
deep (or high), perfectly flat on top, with just 
the least depression in the middle to hold the 
eggs. Composed of a harsh green moss with 
I a little Spanish moss among it, and with a 
. mass of small twigs mixed in among the moss. 
, These twigs must have the moss growing on 
I them, for I saw several Kites carrying twigs 
with moss hanging from them, during our 
1 trip. The nest is just a platform, and what 
keeps the eggs from rolling out during the 
: high wind, when the bird is not on, I cannot 
1 see. All the other nests we saw were of the 
same description, with the exception of one, 
which was composed wholly of Spanish moss. 
As the trees were all covered with this moss it 
: was very hard indeed to see the nests. 
When the parent bird left the nest she cir- 
cled around the tree uttering plaintive cries, 
which soon brought all her relations and friends 
to see what was the matter. They began to 
scream also, and showed a disposition to attack 
Mr. Gillin. I picked out two of the prettiest 
and brought them to the ground with a load of 
No. 4, but even then they were so high up that 
I only wounded them very slightly. 
1 I had often heard that this Kite when 
1 wounded offered no resistance, but when I 
i went to pick up my first bird it was the most 
savage thing I ever saw. It did not wait for 
me, but came to meet me with a rush, and I had 
to skip around right smart to get hold of it and 
not let it get hold of me. The second bird 
i Was just the same. 
‘ We did not try any more trees that day, for 
I we thought from the signs that the other nests 
were either old or not yet finished, so we found 
a good place and went into camp. 
The next day we went on down the river, 
and about two miles from our camp of the day 
before, went into camp again, as we saw several 
Kites flying around among the tops of the Cot- 
tonwoods. Here, after a day’s tramp through 
mud about three feet deep, and like unto wax, 
we located a nest and succeeded in getting 
another set of eggs. Mr. Gillin as usual 
climbed the tree to the nest, which was even 
higher than the one he had climbed to before. 
We saw several other nests, but as each 
tree took an hour or more to get up and down, 
and required the outlay of an immense 
amount of strength and skill, it was only those 
nests which we were certain had either eggs or 
young in them that were attempted. 
On April 28th, still along this same river, we 
saw a Kite sitting on her nest in a Cottonwood. 
The nest was built out on a very small limb 
which we afterwards found to be over 
two hundred feet from the ground. And 
there were no limbs for over a hundred feet 
up. At first we decided not to try it, but it 
seemed too bad to go away and leave it, so we 
made a try, and Mr. Gillin at last succeeded in 
reaching the nest to find only one egg, just 
laid. This was the most beautiful egg we had 
seen so far, and is as follows: Measures 2.00 
xl.44, ground color is a yellowish-white; 
around the smaller end blotched with large 
spots of reddish-umber, rich and beautiful, 
and around the larger end the spots are 
small and irregular, and lighter in color. 
At nine o’clock in the morning. May 4th, 
just as we were crossing a small creek only three 
or four yards wide, one of our party spied 
a Kite’s nest, which we thought was a new 
one on account of the fresh green moss hang- 
ing from it. We immediately went into camp, 
and then drew a bee-line for the Cottonwoods. 
The first nest we came to was nearer the 
ground than any we had found. It could not 
have been more than fifty feet up. One of 
our guides climbed to this one and found two 
beautiful eggs, the Kites meanwhile flying 
around and darting at him as they did at the 
first nest we found. These two eggs re- 
sembled very much the second set we had 
collected, excepting that the brown spots 
were richer and larger. The next nest we 
discovered, although not more than ninety 
feet up, was the hardest of all to get at. The 
tree it was on was a cottonwood very thick 
at the base, and when Mr. Gillin put the 
spurs of his climbing-irons into it it crumbled 
away like so much gingerbread. He could not 
get any hold at all, so he climbed a smaller tree 
that stood within about twenty feet of the one 
that contained the nest, and when he reached 
the top, forty-five feet from the ground, throw- 
ing a rope over a limb of the big tree, he 
drew it taut and fastened it, and then climbed 
over on the rope till he was able to reach the 
first branch. Even then he had a hard climb, 
which the intense heat made worse, but at last 
succeeded in reaching the nest which con- 
tained three eggs. 
They were about one-half incubated, and 
were a very beautifully marked set. 
This was the last set of Swallow-tailed 
Kites’ eggs we collected. Although we saw a 
great many more birds before we left the State, 
we never found any more nests. 
At Key West, Florida, in the month of June, 
we saw two Kites sailing over the town. This 
was the last glimpse we had of this beautiful 
bird. G, B. Benners. 
Philadelphia. O AO. XI V, J UQe. 1889 p. 83-85 
