HAWKS, EAGLES, KITES: MISSISSIPPI KITE 155 
on rump, and underparts, including wing linings, white; back, tail , and wings black 
with gray bloom, or bronzy purple gloss; iris black or very dark, bill bluish black, 
cere, edges of bill, and feet pale bluish, feet tinged with green. Immature: Similar 
but less lustrous, more brownish above, feathers of wings and tail tipped with 
white, and of head and neck with blackish shaft lines. 
Range. —North temperate North America, east of Rocky Mountains south to 
south temperate South America. Breeds locally from Minnesota, Wisconsin, 
Indiana, and South Carolina south through eastern Mexico and Central America 
to Argentina and Peru; winters chiefly in Central and South America; casual or 
accidental in New Mexico, Colorado, southern Saskatchewan, Manitoba, north¬ 
eastern States, and Greater Antilles; recorded from British Isles. 
State Records. —A Swallow-tailed Kite was taken August 5 at Cantonment 
Burgwyn about 1859 and sent to the United States National Museum. Another was 
seen July 10, 1903, high up on the southwestern slope of the Capitan Mountains at 
about 9,500 feet (Gaut). On the Carlsbad Bird Reserve one was taken about 1907 
(Willett). These were, of course, wanderers from the regular range far to the east¬ 
ward in eastern Oklahoma or eastern Texas.—W. W. Cooke. 
Nest. —“Usually in great woods” (Forbush), in the tops of high trees near water; 
made of sticks lined with gray or green moss. Eggs: Generally 2, white or buffy white, 
sparsely or boldly spotted or blotched, chiefly around the larger end, with brown. 
The Swallow-tailed Kite lives mainly on the wing and stragglers have been seen 
in many of the northern States and even in distant England. 
Subfamily Milvinae 
MISSISSIPPI KITE: Ictfnia mississippiensis (Wilson) 
Description. — Length: 13-15.5 inches, wing 10.6-12.3, tail 6-7. Two quills cut 
out on inner webs. Adults: Head and wing band grayish white; upperparts bluish 
slate, with square black tail and black wing quills webbed with reddish brown; under¬ 
parts dark gray; iris lake red; lores, eyelids, cere and bill, black, gape of mouth, legs, 
and feet orange. Young: Head, neck and underparts white, longitudinally spotted 
or striped, except on throat, with dark brown or reddish brown; upperparts blackish, 
feathers edged with brown, gray, or white; tail black, with about three ashy bands; 
wing quills black tipped with white, and without rufous. 
Range. —Breeds chiefly in Lower Austral Zone from southern Kansas, southern 
Indiana, and South Carolina south to Florida and Texas, but in the Mississippi 
Valley as far north as Illinois; winters in southern Texas and Florida and rarely 
south to Guatemala. 
State Records. —Evidence of the occurrence of this species in New Mexico rests 
solely on specimens taken by Woodhouse. In Volume IX of the Pacific Railroad 
Reports, 1858, p. 37, John Cassin includes New Mexico on the authority of Wood- 
house, in the range of the species. In 1860, in a letter published in the Ibis (pp. 103, 
104), Cassin, in enumerating the specimens of this species in the collection of the 
Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, makes this statement: “Three of these 
et juv.), are from New Mexico, obtained by Dr. Woodhouse. They were 
probably taken in the Canadian River section of the northeastern part of the State. 
This is the only record and probably represents wandering birds from the 1 exas part 
of the Canadian River, where they have been found nesting, or from their normal 
home in the lower Mississippi Valley.—W. W. Cooke. 
General Habits. —Though not an oceanic wanderer like its large 
handsome relative, the Swallow-tailed Kite, the Mississippi Kite is 
