Page:Condor17(6).djvu/21

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Nov.,1915 NESTING O1? THE WHITE-TAILED KITE AT SESPE 231 On April 25, while scouting around in the same neighborhood, he located another nest within two hundred yards of the first and also in an oak tree about twenty feet above the ground. This nest contained three small young and a heavily incubated egg. Both of these 'nests were within a short distance of the Japanese quarters of the Rancho Sespe. On April 27 another visit was made to both nests. Nest no. I was all right; but on climbing to no. 2, the three young were found to have disap- peared, although the egg was left. No trace of the young could be found although the old birds were seen later. On May 7 we both made a visit to nest no. I to take some photographs (see figs. 77, 78). The young had grown con- siderably and manifested some uneasiness if we came very close. The nest Fig. 78. You?o WHITE-TAILED KIT?S IN THE NEST; PHOTO- GRAPHED MAY 7, 1915. contained a considerable quantity of rabbit fur and the entire body of a field mouse. On the morning of May 16 we paid our last visit to the nest. The young were nearly ready to leave and one adventurous youngster did essay a weak flight into a sumac bush about fifty yards distant, where he was caught by a Japanese laborer. After photographing him at close range he was returned to the nest tree. In the afternoon of this same day my brother found another Kite's nest, partially completed, in the top of a big sycamore three-quarters of a mile east of home. One week later this nest contained four beautifully marked eggs. This was undoubtedly a second set laid by the birds of nest no. 2. Nests nos.