Swallow-tailed Kite 165 



outer one never shorter than the inner one, and never 

 reversible ; hind toe not elevated above the others. 

 For key of the genera, see p. 162. 



Genus ELANOIDES. 



Bill rather weak ; nostrils oval and oblique ; wings long, acute and 

 pointed, tenth (outer) primary about equal to sixth, ninth and tenth 

 longest ; two outer primaries emarginate on the outer web ; tail very 

 long, often nearly equal to wing ; very strongly forked ; the outer 

 feathers about twice the length of the central pair ; tarsus short, half 

 feathered, elsewhere with reticulate scales. 



This genus contains only one species. 



Swallow-tailed Kite. Elanoides forficatus. 



A.O.U. CheckUst no 327— Colorado Record— Cooke 97, pp. 73, 160. 



Description. — Male — Head and neck all round, a band across the rump 

 and the whole of the under-parts, including the under wing- and under 

 tail-coverts, white ; back, wings and tail glossy black with greenish 

 lustre ; iris black, bill bluish-black, cere and legs bluish. Length 20'O ; 

 wing 15-7o ; tail 10-5 up to 14-0; cukaen '9; tarsus 1-3. 



The female is larger — wing 17'0. Young birds have white tips to 

 some of the wing- and tail-feathers, and the head with narrow brown 

 shaft-lines. 



Distribution. — Chiefly met with in the middle and southern United 

 States, from Minnesota and Virginia south through Texas and Mexico 

 to South America. 



The Swallow-tailed Kite is a very rare straggler in Colorado, and 

 has been met with only by Aiken. He saw one at Leadville in August, 

 1871 ; and the same month in 1877, two were brought to him in the 

 flesh ; one of these was killed close to Colorado Springs, and is now 

 in the Colorado College Museum ; the other at Manitou Park in Teller 

 CO., at about 7,700 feet. 



Genus ICTINIA. 



Bill moderate, edge of upper mandible slightly lobed ; nostrils 

 circular ; wing long ; eighth primary longest ; the tenth (outer) about 

 equal to the fourth ; two outer primaries emarginate on the inner web ; 

 tail nearly even ; tarsus half feathered with a row of transverse scutes 

 in front. 



A genus containing two species, confined to temperate and tropical 

 America. 



