Mississippi kites are noted for their buoyant and seemingly almost effortless flight, and their prey is caught while they are on the wing. In extended flights the kites soar, drift and circle with frequent easy flapping, at variable heights. Sometimes they are several hundred feet above the ground. Doubtless the height is influenced by the types of insects that are flying, and where they can be found most readily. Even at close range the catching of prey by a kite is likely to be overlooked by an observer. After being snatched from the air, the prey is usually eaten while the kite is still in flight, and the movements of the head in pecking at the objects held in the talons are much more noticeable than the slight veering from the course of flight that signals the actual capture. Kites were often watched while they were hunting in the open areas around the Park. On June 1, 1961, my son and I observed 16 perched together in a small tree. From time to time each kite would leave the tree in a short flight low over the surface of a nearby pool, where it would snatch up prey, probably a dragonfly in many instances, and would return to a perch to feed. Most of the time one or several kites were in flight while the majority were perched. Similar observations were made on smaller groups perched on fence posts along the edges of large pastures. Gregarious tendencies were evident from the fact that two or more of the kites perched fairly near together on separate but sometimes adjacent fence posts. Each kite in turn would glide from its post, skim low over the ground surface for a few seconds, seize its prey with a sudden slight swerving, and return to the fence (usually to a different post from the one it had left) to feed upon the insect captured. Grasshoppers of many species were abundant in the area. It seemed that grasshoppers were flushed from the ground by the bird flying near them and were picked off before they were well underway. In any case the prey was taken from the air rather than from the ground in all observed instances. Ganier (1902:86) mentioned seeing one of these kites alight on the ground in a cotton field, where it stayed for more than a minute, but perching on the ground is unusual.