2. =I. plumbea.=[75] _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.