50 BULLETIN 16 7, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



of sand, in order to pick up some of the numerous water-snakes which lie 

 basking in the sun. At other' times, they dash along the trunks of trees, and 

 snap off the pupae of the locust, or that insect itself. Although when on 

 wing they move with a grace and ease which it is impossible to describe, yet 

 on the ground they are scarcely able to walk. 



Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway (1905) write: 



One was noticed as it was hunting after grasshoppers. It went over the 

 ground as carefully as a well-trained pointer, every now and then stopping 

 to pick up a grasshopper, the feet and bill seeming to touch the insect simul- 

 taneously. They were very fond of wasp grubs, and would carry a nest to a 

 high perch, hold it in one claw, and sit there picking out the grubs. * * * 



Mr. R. Owen, while travelling from Coban to San Geronimo, in Guatemala, 

 among the mountains, came suddenly upon a large flock of two or three hun- 

 dred of these Hawks, which were pursuing and preying upon a swarm of 

 bees. At times they passed within four or five yards of him. Every now and 

 then the neck was observed to be bent slowly and gracefully, bringing the 

 head quite under the body. At the same time the foot, with the talons con- 

 tracted as if grasping some object, would be brought forward to meet the 

 beak. The beak was then seen to open and to close again, and then the head 

 was again raised and the foot thrown back. This movement was repeatedly 

 observed, and it was quite clear to him that the birds were preying upon the 

 bees. 



Behavior. — The flight of the condor or the eagle may be grand, 

 majestic, but the flight of the swallow-tailed kite is beautiful in the 

 extreme, unsurpassed in grace and elegance. Coues (1874), in his 

 usual matchless style, describes it as follows : 



Marked among its kind by no ordinary beauty of form and brilliancy of 

 color, the Kite courses through the air with a grace and buoyancy it would 

 be vain to rival. By a stroke of the thin-bladed wings and a lashing of the 

 cleft tail, its flight is swayed to this or that side in a moment, or instantly 

 arrested. Now it swoops with incredible swiftness, seizes without a pause, and 

 bears its struggling captive aloft, feeding from its talons as it flies; now it 

 mounts in airy circles till it is a speck in the blue ether and disappears. All 

 its actions, in wantonness or in severity of the chase, display the dash of the 

 athletic bird, which, if lacking the brute strength and brutal ferocity of some, 

 becomes their peer in prowess — like the trained gymnast, whose tight-strung 

 thews, supple joints, and swelling muscles, under marvellous control, enable 

 him to execute feats that to the more massive or not so well conditioned frame 

 would be impossible. One cannot watch the flight of the Kite without com- 

 paring it with the thorough-bred racer. 



Holt and Sutton (1926) write: "That this kite is playful, or mis- 

 chievous, was obvious. Once a pelican flew slowly along under a 

 soaring kite. The kite swooped down at the pelican and nagged the 

 big clumsy creature for half a mile, crying loudly the while in a high 

 voice, kii-M-M. Again, when a Barred Owl was flushed from a 

 thicket, two kites slashed furiously down at the owl, crying loudly, 

 and clearly intent on driving the creature away." 



Donald J. Nicholson (1928a) relates the following: 



On several occasions I had the privilege of witnessing at close range the 

 bird taking a bath and a cooling drink from a deep i)ool hidden in a big 



