I8SS.J 
Seton on Manitoban Hirds. 
21 
appeared and also joined in the circling flights. It was a beauti- 
ful and, to me, exciting sight to watch their various motions and 
coqueting evolutions, sailing high in the air, swooping down with 
partially closed wings, skimming along the prairie, lost for a 
moment in the woods, ascending in spiral flights, gliding from 
slow to swift and swift to slow without a flit or break, like 
Swallows. For grace and symmeti'y of action I would rank 
them first among the aerial birds, attaching the blue ribbon to the 
Swallow-tailed. Unfortunately I was called away on the 8th and 
did not return until the i8th. At first I thought the birds had 
left, but I soon occasionally noticed one here and there flying low 
down and often disajapearing in the tree-tops. I lost no time, 
but hastened, with glass and gun in hand, for the timber em- 
braced in their former flights, and in a short time had the 
pleasure of finding a pair of the Swallow-tailed Kites building a 
nest in the top of a large hickory tree, the nest being about two- 
thirds completed; by cautiously approaching and lying down 
behind a fallen tree I was enabled to watch them unobserved, 
and, with the aid of the glass, to plainly see them at their work. 
When either came to the nest alone with a stick it would place 
it hurriedly upon the nest, but when both met at the nest 
they would at once commence fussing about, pulling at the 
sticks and trying to arrange the material, first one getting upon 
the nest, and then the other, turning around as if trying to fit a 
place for their bodies. I think at one time they must have 
worked at least ten minutes trying to weave in or place in a sat- 
isfactory manner a stripping from the inner bark of the cotton- 
wood. As builders they are not a success. After a little over 
two hours of watching I turned my attention to hunting for the 
nests of others. In this I failed, but found near by, sitting on the 
dead limb of an oak, a pair of Mississippi Kites, busily engaged 
in dressing up their feathers. My anxiety to secure a pair for 
my collection overcame the desire for their eggs, especially as the 
birds are rare in the State and the finding of their nest doubtful ; 
I believed I could get both by shooting one from the tree and the 
other on the wing as it left ; so I carefully crawled to within easy 
shooting distance, sprang to my feet, shot one, and to my sur- 
jarise the other did not fly, but with outstretched wings looked 
down with astonishment at its mate fluttering upon the ground. 
It was too good a shot to lose and I dropped it beside the other. 
and proudly started for home, more than satisfied with my 
success. 
On the 27th of the same month I found the other pair of 
Mississippi Kites nesting in the fork of a medium sized oak, about 
fort^ feet from the ground. It was an old Crow’s nest fitted up 
with a few extra sticks and green twigs in leaf for lining. In the 
nest there was one egg. I returned on the 2d of June for the 
found the nest robbed and the birds sitting in a tree near by, 
but they appeared to take no notice of, or interest in, the nest as 
I approached it. On July 5, in strolling over the grounds, I 
noticed one of the birds on the same nest. In it there was one 
egg in an advanced state of incubation, but with care I was 
able to save it. Color, pure white; measurements, 1.70 x 1.35. 
This nest and the ones examined of E . forjicatus ssiQxe. on the 
breeding giounds ot the common Crow, wdiich accounts for the 
robbery and the few eggs found. 
Auk, 2, Jan., 1885. p. /*f - Z ! ■ 
