The maximum number of kites seen flying at one time at the Park was 44, on August 22, 1961. Probably almost all there were adults, because fledglings, even though able to fly strongly by this date, were still spending most of their time perched. The colony of kites was usually scattered over at least two square miles, and at most times some were perched, others were flying low and solitarily, hence it is improbable that the total population or a high percentage of it could be seen together at any one time or place. More than 40 nests were located in 1961, and probably at least as many more were overlooked. There must have been a breeding population of at least 100 kites, and probably as many as 150 in the Park in 1961. H. B. Tordoff recorded on the label of K. U. Mus. Nat. Hist. no. 30514, taken on September 1, 1951, in Barber County, Kansas, that it was one of at least 200 at a communal roost. Feeding The Park and its vicinity stood out as a veritable oasis in an almost treeless region of open rolling topography, with a short-grass type of vegetation dominating. The kites displayed versatility in their choice of places to forage. Often they soared over the cottonwood groves, the lake, or the ponds, but at other times they flew far out over the plains, and seemed to prefer such open situations. A small herd of buffalo was maintained at the Park, and their closely grazed pastures of several hundred acres were favorite foraging grounds for the kites. Often the kites and buffalo were seen in close association, and at times the kites must have benefited from the movements of the buffalo, serving to flush certain insects such as grasshoppers. The latter were probably the chief food source of the kites in the heavily grazed pastures. Bent (1936:67) stated: "A flock of from 3 to 20 will sail about a person, a horseman or a team, traveling through grassy flats or bushy places, and seize the cicadas as they are scared up." Dr. Hibbard told me that on one occasion when he had caught a number of cicadas, he fed them to a pair of kites by tossing them into the air one by one, and each was seized by a kite which was flying nearby waiting expectantly.