Part 49

Dr. Heermann found the extensive marshes of Suisun, Napa, and Sacramento Valleys the favorite resorts of these birds, especially during the winter, and there they seemed to find a plentiful supply of insects and mice. They ranged over their feeding-grounds in small flocks from a single pair up to six or seven. He fell in with an isolated couple in the mountains between Elizabeth Lake and Williamson’s Pass, hovering over a small freshwater marsh. In July and August the young were quite abundant, from which Dr. Heermann inferred that it does not migrate for the purposes of incubation. Dr. Gambel, who procured his specimens at the Mission of St. John, near Monterey, describes it as flying low and circling over the plains in the manner of a Circus, and as feeding on the small birds. It was easy of approach when perched on trees, and uttered a loud shrill cry when wounded, and fought viciously.

Lieutenant Gilliss, who found them in Chile, describes the nest as composed of small sticks, and states that the number of the eggs is from four to six, and that they are of a dirty yellowish-white with brownish spots. The common name of this Hawk in Chile is Bailarin (from the verb bailar, to dance or balance), from the graceful and easy manner in which it seems almost to float upward or to sink in the air.

An egg of this species, in the collection of the Boston Society of Natural History, measures 1.64 inches in length by 1.48 in breadth. In shape it is very nearly spherical, and equally obtuse at either end. The ground-color, though nowhere very distinctly apparent, appears to be of a dull white, strongly tinged with a reddish hue. Distributed over the entire egg are broad deep flashes of a dark mahogany-brown, intermingled with others of a similar color, but lighter in shading. These cover the egg more or less completely, in the greater portion of its surface. This egg was taken near Fort Arbuckle, Indian Territory, May 9, 1861, by J. H. Clark, Esq., and sent to the Smithsonian Institution.

GENUS ICTINIA, VIEILLOT.

Ictinia, VIEILL. 1816. (Type, Falco mississippiensis, WILSON.) Nertus, BOIE, 1826. (Type, Falco plumbea, GMELIN.) Pœcilopteryx, KAUP, 1844. (Same type.)

Ictinia mississippiensis.]

Ictinia mississippiensis.]

=32974=, ♀. ½ =32974=, ♀. ½ =32974=, ♀. ¼

I. plumbea.]

GEN. CHAR. Form falcon-like; the neck short, wings long, and pointed, the primaries and rectrices strong and stiff, and the organization robust. Bill short and deep, the commissure irregularly toothed, and notched; gonys very convex, ascending terminally; cere narrow; nostril very small, nearly circular; feet small, but robust; tarsus about equal to middle toe, with a distinct frontal series of broad transverse scutellæ; claws rather short, but strongly curved, slightly grooved beneath, their edges sharp. Third quill longest; first of variable proportion with the rest. Tail moderate, the feathers wide, broader terminally, and emarginated.

This genus is peculiar to America, the two most closely related genera being Elanus on the one hand and Harpagus on the other. Its species belong to the tropical and subtropical regions, one of them (I. plumbea) generally distributed throughout the intertropical portions, the other (I. mississippiensis) peculiar to Mexico and the southern United States.

In their habits, they are very aerial, like the genus Nauclerus, sailing for the greater time in broad circles overhead, occasionally performing graceful evolutions as they gyrate about. Like Nauclerus, they are also partially gregarious, and, like it, feed chiefly on insects and small reptiles, which they eat while flying.

Species.

COMMON CHARACTERS. Adult. Uniform plumbeous, becoming lighter (whitish) on the head, and darker (blackish) on the primaries and tail. Inner webs of primaries with more or less rufous. Young. Beneath whitish, striped longitudinally with brownish; above much variegated: tail with several narrow whitish bands.

1. =I. mississippiensis.= Adult. Wings lighter than the tail, the secondaries hoary whitish; inner webs of primaries with only obscure spots of rufous, the outer webs with a very obscure stripe of the same. Tail wholly black. Young. Stripes beneath reddish-umber; lower tail-coverts with longitudinal shaft-streaks of the same. Second to third quills longest; first shorter than seventh and longer than sixth. Wing, 10.60–12.30; tail, 6.00–7.00; culmen, .60–.65; tarsus, 1.30–1.55; middle toe, 1.00–1.10. Hab. Prairies and savannas of the southern United States and Northern Mexico, from Wisconsin and Georgia to Mirador.

2. =I. plumbea.= Adult. Wing concolor with the tail, the secondaries black; inner webs of the primaries almost wholly rufous; outer webs with only a trace of rufous. Tail with about three bands of pure white, formed by transverse spots on the inner webs. Young. Stripes beneath brownish-black; lower tail-coverts transversely spotted with the same; upper parts darker. Third quill longest; first shorter or longer than the seventh. Tail more nearly square. Wing, 10.50–12.20; tail, 5.60–6.80; culmen, .62–.70; tarsus, 1.15–1.50; middle toe, 1.00–1.05. Hab. Tropical America, from Paraguay to Southern Mexico.

Ictinia mississippiensis (WILSON).

MISSISSIPPI KITE; BLUE KITE.

Falco mississippiensis, WILS. Am. Orn. pl. 25, f. 1, 1808.—LATH. Gen. Hist. I, 275.—JAMES. (WILS.) Am. Orn. I, 72, 1831. Nertus mississippiensis, BOIE, Isis, 1828, 314. Milvus mississippiensis, CUV. Règ. An. (ed. 2), I, 335, 1829. Ictinia mississippiensis, GRAY, Gen. B. fol. sp. 2; List B. Brit. Mus. p. 48, 1844; Gen. & Sub-Gen. Brit. Mus. p. 6, 1855.—CASS. B. Cal. & Tex. p. 106, 1854.—KAUP, Ueb. Falk. Mus. Senck. p. 258, 1845; Monog. Falc. Cont. Orn. 1850, p. 57.—STRICKL. Orn. Syn. I, 140, 1855.—BREWER, Oölogy, I, 1857, 41.—COUES, Prod. Orn. Ariz. p. 13, 1866.—DRESSER, Ibis, 1865, 327 (Texas).—GRAY, Hand List, I, 28, 1869. Falco plumbeus, AUD. Orn. Biog. II, 108, pl. cxvii; V, p. 374, 1831. Ictinia plumbea, BONAP. Eur. & N. Am. B. p. 4, 1838; Ann. N. Y. Lyc. II, 30; Isis, 1832, p. 1137.—JARD. (WILS.) Am. Orn. I, 368, pl. 25, f. 1, 1832.—BREW. (WILS.) Synop. 685, 1852.—AUD. Synop. B. Am. p. 14, 1839.—WOODH. (Sitgr.) Exp. Zuñi & Colorad. p. 61, 1853.—NUTT. Man. 92, 1833.

SP. CHAR. Adult male (No. 1,486, Coll. R. Ridgway, Richland Co., Ill., August 19, 1871). Head, neck, secondaries, and entire lower parts plumbeous-ash, becoming, by a gradual transition, lighter on the head and secondaries, where the shade is pale cinereous; the head anteriorly, and the tips of the secondaries, being silvery-white. Lores and eyelids black. Rest of the plumage dark plumbeous, approaching plumbeous-black on the lesser wing-coverts, primaries, and upper tail-coverts, the tail being nearly pure black. Primaries with an indistinct narrow concealed stripe of chestnut-rufous on the outer webs, and larger spots of the same on the inner webs; feathers of the head, neck, and lower parts abruptly pure white beneath the surface, this showing in partially exposed spots on the pectoral region and crissum. Scapulars also with large concealed white spots. Shafts of primaries and tail-feathers black on both sides. Wing-formula, 3, 2–4–5–6, 1. First primary angularly, the second concavely, emarginated. Tail emarginated, lateral feather longest; depth of fork, .40. Wing, 11.75; tail, 6.80; culmen, .63; tarsus, 1.20; middle toe, 1.15.

Adult female (No. 1,487, Coll. Ridgway, Richland Co., Ill., August 19, 1871). Similar to the male, but head and secondaries decidedly darker, hardly approaching light ash; scarcely any trace of rufous on the primaries, none at all on outer webs; shafts of tail-feathers white on under side. Wing, 11.80; tail, 7.25. Bill, cere, eyelids, and interior of mouth, deep black; iris deep lake-red; rictus orange-red; tarsi and toes pinkish orange-red; lower part of tarsus and large scutellæ of toes dusky. (Notes from fresh specimens, the ones above described.)

Immature male (transition plumage; 1,488, Coll. Ridgway, Richland Co., Ill., August 21, 1871.) Similar to the adult female, but the white spots on basal portion of pectoral and crissal feathers distinctly exposed; secondaries not lighter than rest of the wing. Tail-feathers with angular white spots extending quite across the inner webs, producing three distinct transverse bands when viewed from below. Inner web of outer primary mostly white anterior to the emargination. Wing, 10.50; tail, 6.25. Color of bill, etc., as in the adult, but interior of mouth whitish, and the iris less pure carmine.

Immature female (Coll. Philadelphia Academy, Red Fork of the Arkansas, 1850; Dr. Woodhouse). Similar to the last. Wing, 11.10; tail, 6.31.

Young female (first plumage; Coll. Philadelphia Academy, North Fork Canadian River, September 19, 1851; Dr. Woodhouse). Head, neck, and lower parts white, with a yellowish tinge; this most perceptible on the tibiæ. Each feather with a medial longitudinal ovate spot of blackish-brown; more reddish on the lower parts. The chin, throat, and a broad superciliary stripe, are immaculate white. Lower tail-coverts each with a medial acuminate spot of rusty, the shaft black. Upper parts brownish-black; wing-coverts, scapulars, and interscapulars, feathers of the rump, and the upper tail-coverts, narrowly bordered with ochraceous-white, and with concealed quadrate spots of the same; primary coverts, secondaries, and primaries sharply bordered terminally with pure white. Tail black (faintly whitish at the tip), with three (exposed) obscure bands of a more slaty tint; this changing to white on the inner webs, in the form of angular spots forming the bands. Lining of the wing pale ochraceous, transversely spotted with rusty rufous; under primary-coverts with transverse spots of white. Wing, 11.90; tail, 6.40.

HAB. Central Mexico and Southern United States; common as far north as Georgia (accidental in Pennsylvania, VINCENT BARNARD), on the Atlantic coast, and Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin, in the Mississippi Valley. Exceedingly abundant summer bird on the prairies of Southern Illinois.

Localities: Coban (SALVIN, Ibis, III, 1861, 355); E. and N. Texas (DRESSER, Ibis, 1865, 327); Chester Co., Pa. (breeds; BARNARD.)

LIST OF SPECIMENS EXAMINED.

National Museum, 6; Philadelphia Academy, 4; New York Museum, 1; Cambridge Museum, 1; Cab. G. N. Lawrence, 1; R. Ridgway, 3. Total, 16.