ish were the only vertebrate remains.
Further verification of predation on mammals, reptiles and amphibians
by this species is needed. Of the insects distinguished in pellets,
beetles including carabids, cicindelids, hydrophilids, scarabaeids,
and silphids were most numerous (270) and grasshoppers (164) were
second; also there were 16 cicadas and three moths.

Kites arrive in Kansas about the second week in May. Often old nests
are repaired and used over again. Hatching is about mid-June. Normally
there are two eggs per clutch. By mid-August the fledglings are
learning to fly. By the latter part of August they are learning to
capture their insect prey, and in early September southward movement
of the entire population begins.

Eggs and/or young in many nests are destroyed by hail or high wind in
the sudden violent storms that are characteristic of the High Plains.
Mississippi kites are often shot by misguided persons, and benefit
little from the protection supposedly provided by Federal law.
However, the adults probably have few natural enemies. The high ratio
of older adults to yearlings indicates that the life expectancy is
long. Through their second summer the kites retain their barred
immature plumage, and can be readily distinguished from adults. Only
ten per cent of the kites recorded in 108 June sight records at the
Park were in juvenile plumage.

Literature Cited

AUDUBON, J. J.
1840. The birds of America. Philadelphia, pp. xv + 246.

BENDIRE, C. E.
1892. Life histories of North American birds. U. S. National
Mus. Spec. Bull. 1, viii + 446 pp.

BENT, A. C.
1937. Life histories of North American birds of prey. Bull.
U. S. Nat. Mus., 167, x + 409 pp. 102 pls.

CHAPMAN, F. M.
1891. On the birds observed near Corpus Christi, Texas, during
parts of March and April, 1891. Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat.
Hist., 3:315-328.

EISENMANN, E.
1963. Mississippi kite in Argentina, with comments on
migration and plumage in the genus _Ictinia_. Auk,
80:74-77.

GANIER, A. F.
1902. The Mississippi kite (_Ictinia mississippiensis_). The
Osprey, vol. 1 (new series), No. 6:85-90.

GOSS, N. S.
1891. History of the birds of Kansas. Geo. W. Crane and Co.,
Topeka, 692 pp.

NICE, M. M.
1931.