277 



NAUCLERUS FURCATUS. THE WHITE-HEADED 

 SWALLOW-KITE. 



SWALLOW-TAILED HAWK. SWALLOW-TAILED KITE. 



J: 



Falco furoatus. Linn. Syst. Nat. I, 129. 



Falco furcatus. Lath. Ind. Orn. I. 60. 



Swallow-tailed Elanus. Elanus furcatus. Selb. Illustr. T. 17 . 



Milvus furcatus. Jen. Brit. Vert. An. 86. 



Swallow- tailed Hawk. Falco furcatus. Aud. Oru. Biogr. L 368 ; V. 371. 



Nauclerus furcatus. Audub. Synops. 14. 



Head, neck^ and low er yarts white ; back, ti'ings, and tail black. 



Male. — This beautiful bird is at once distinguished from all 

 the British falconine species by its very long and deeply forked 

 tail, as well as by its peculiar colouring. It agrees in every 

 respect with the generic character, it being in fact the only 

 species of its genus known to me. The oesophagus of an indi- 

 vidual which I examined for INIr Audubon measured five in- 

 ches and a half in length, and one inch in width throughout ; 

 the stomach was two inches and a quarter in diameter ; the 

 intestine twenty-two inches long, and from five-twelfths to 

 three-twelfths in width ; the rectum three inches and a half in 

 length, and its cloacal dilatation one inch in diameter. In 

 another individual, the intestine was twenty-two inches long. 



