149 
FALCONS, HAWKS, EAGLES, ETC. 
Nest. — Generally in live oaks, made of wigs, lined with stubble and 
grasses. Eggs: 3 to 5, ground color white, heavily marked over entire 
surface with blotches of red and brown. 
Food. — Small snakes, lizards, frogs, and insects such as grasshoppers 
and beetles. 
The white-tailed kites frequent lowland valleys, breeding when 
possible near streams or marshes, where they hide their nests in the 
tops of oaks or willows. 
Their flight, Mr. Chester Barlow says, is graceful and often quite 
rapid, though it lacks the dash of the falcons. When hunting early 
in the morning, both birds often go together, when they may be 
seen hovering motionless in the air like sparrow hawks. Their 
principal call-note Mr. Barlow gives as a plaintive musical whistle. 
The kites are resident in the oak groves of Santa Clara Valley, and 
frequent the marshes about San Francisco Bay, where Mr. W. K. 
Fisher has found them catching large numbers of the California 
meadow mouse. 
GENUS ICTINIA. 
329. Ictinia mississippiensis {Wils.). Mississippi Kite. 
Bill small but robust, cutting edge of upper mandible scalloped; wings 
and tail moderate, two outer primaries 
emarginate on inner web, and next two 
sinuate ; feet short and stout; tarsus scan¬ 
tily feathered about half way down in 
front, then crossed by large scales; outer 
and middle toes connected by web for whole 
length of basal joint of middle toe; claws 
stout, much curved. Adults: head and 
band across wing grayish white; under 
parts dark gray ; upper parts bluish slate , with 
black tail and long black wing quills ; quills 
with dull reddish brown webbing. Young: 
head streaked black and white, whiter 
on throat; under parts whitish, heavily 
streaked with dark brown and huffy ; upper 
parts blackish, feathers with convex edges 
brown, gray, or white; tail and wing quills 
black tipped with white, and without rufous 
webbing. Length: 13.00-15.50, wing 10.60- 
12.30, tail 6-7. 
Distribution. — Breeds chiefly in Lower From Biological Survey, u. S. Dept. 
Sonoran zone of the southeastern United of Agriculture. 
States, westward to western Texas, south 221 • 
to Guatemala; casually in Upper Sonoran zone to Pennsylvania, Wiscon¬ 
sin, and Dakota. 
Nest. — Usually an old one of its own or some other bird, in a high tree- 
top; remodeled by patching up the sides with a few sticks and lining 
with Spanish moss or green leaves. Eggs: 2 or 3, pale bluish green, 
unspotted. 
Food. — Lizards, small snakes, and frogs, together with insects, such as 
the larger beetles, grasshoppers, and locusts. 
