Part 36

INCA DOVE 321. Scardafella inca. 8 in.

Tail long, with the outer feathers tipped with white, and shorter than the middle ones. Feathers mostly margined with brownish-black. The bases of the primaries are bright chestnut, and the whole underwing is of that color; bill black; eye and feet reddish.

Range.—Southern Texas, southern Arizona and southern New Mexico.

VULTURES, HAWKS AND OWLS—Order Raptores AMERICAN VULTURES—Family Cathartidæ

TURKEY VULTURE OR BUZZARD 325. Cathartes aura septentrionalis. 30 in.

Head naked; red or carmine; bill dull whitish; eyes brown; feet pinkish. Plumage blackish-brown.

Nest.—Their two eggs are laid upon the ground, between rocks, under logs, or in hollow trees; they are whitish, handsomely blotched with brown.

Range.—Breeds from the Gulf north to New Jersey, Illinois, Minnesota and British Columbia.

BLACK VULTURE 326. Catharista urubu. 24 in.

Entire plumage, including the naked head, black; feet and tip of bill yellowish. Under surface of the wings white, making it very easy to identify.

Nest.—Two eggs, greenish-white, blotched with brownish. (3.00 × 2.00).

Range.—Resident north to North Carolina, southern Illinois and Kansas.

FALCONS, HAWKS AND EAGLES—Family Falconidæ

SWALLOW-TAILED KITE 327. Elanoides forficatus. 24 in.

Tail long and deeply forked; plumage white, and glossy black; feet short but stout; bill black, with cere and feet bluish-gray. The flight of these birds is very swift and swallow-like; at times they circle about for long periods, on motionless wings; at others, they will be seen swooping over marshes and low ground; the evolutions they perform during the mating season are wonderful to behold, floating, sailing, doubling and turning, in all imaginable positions, as though they were a part of the air itself.

Notes.—A shrill whistled “peet-peet.”

Nest.—Composed of twigs, lined with moss and rootlets; usually located in the tops of trees at great heights; 90 to 125 feet from the ground not being uncommon; eggs pale bluish-white, very handsomely marked with brown (1.85 × 1.5).

Range.—Breeds north to Virginia, Manitoba and Minnesota; winters south of the United States.

WHITE-TAILED KITE 328. Elanus leucurus. 16 in.

Head, underparts and tail, white; shoulders black; upperparts gray. Young, with the back tinged with rusty. Their food consists largely of snakes, but they also eat a great many small rodents and insects.

Nest.—Made of sticks, weeds and leaves, and placed in trees at quite an elevation from the ground; eggs creamy white, profusely blotched with brown.

Range.—Texas to central California, and less often east of the Miss. River, north to South Carolina.

MISSISSIPPI KITE 329. Ictinia mississippiensis. 14 in.

Head, underparts and ends of secondaries, bluish-gray. Lores and tail black; back dark; eyes red.

Nest.—Of sticks and weeds in the tops of tall trees; eggs bluish white, usually unmarked, but occasionally with a few brownish specks (1.65 × 1.25).

Range.—Breeds north to South Carolina, southern Illinois and Kansas; winters south of the United States.

EVERGLADE KITE 330. Rostrhamus sociabilis. 15 in.

Bill very slender and much hooked, the lower mandible being decurved somewhat, to match the upper; the cutting edge of the bill without a tooth or notch, as most hawks and kites have. Lores naked and yellowish, like the cere; eyes red. Plumage blackish; rump and bases of outer tail feathers, as well as tip white. This tropical species is found in the United States, only in the southern half of Florida, in the densest swamps, being fairly abundant in the Everglades. They are said to feed exclusively upon a certain species of water snail, and each bird has a particular perch to which he takes every snail he captures, and after skillfully extracting the animal with its curiously modified beak, it drops the shell on the mound beneath. (Bendire).