68 SWALLOW-TAILED HAWK. 



wings were single, of a dark amber color, and twice as long as the body, 

 which widened towards the extremitj, where it was slightly indented ; 

 feet two clawed. 



This insect lived for several days between the crystal and dial-plate 

 of a watch, carried in the pocket ; but being placed for a few minutes 

 in the sun, fell into convulsions and died. 



Species XI. FALCO FURCATUS* 



SWALLOW-TAILED HAWK. 



[Plate LI. Fig. 2.] 



Linn. Syst. 129. — Lath, i., 60. — Hirundo maxima Peruviana avis prcedatoris calca- 

 ribus instriicta, Feuillee, Voy. Peru, torn, ii., 33. — Catesb. i., 4. — Le Milan de 

 la Caroline, Briss. i., 418.— Buff, i., 221.-Turt. Syst. W^.—Arct. Zool. p. 210, 

 No. 108. 



This very elegant species inhabits the southern districts of the 

 United States in summer ; is seldom seen as far north as Pennsylvania, 

 but is very abundant in South Carolina and Georgia, and still more so 

 in West Florida, and the extensive prairies of Ohio and the Indiana 

 Territory. I met with these birds, in the early part of May, at a place 

 called Duck Creek, in Tennessee, and found them sailing about in great 

 numbers near Bayo Manchac on the Mississippi, twenty or thirty being 

 within view at the same time. At that season a species of Cicada, 

 or locust, swarmed among the woods, making a deafening noise, and I 

 could pei'tjeive these Hawks frequently snatching them from the trees. 

 A species of lizard, which is very numerous in that quarter of the 

 country, and has the faculty of changing its color at will, also furnishes 

 the Swallow-tailed Hawk with a favorite morsel. These lizards are 

 sometimes of the most brilliant light green, in a few minutes change to 

 a dirty clay color, and again become nearly black. The Swallow-tailed 

 Hawk, and Mississippi Kite, feed eagerly on this lizard ; and, it is said, 

 on a small green snake also, which is the mortal enemy of the lizard, 

 and frequently pursues it to the very extremity of the branches, where 

 both become the prey of the Hawk.f 



The Swallow-tailed Hawk retires to the south in October, at which 



* V.forficatus, Linn. Syst. i., p. 89, Sp. n., ed. 10. — Lath. Ind. Orn. p. 22, No. 

 41. — Milviis furcatus, Vieillot, Ois. de I'Am. Sept. vol. i., p. 38, pi. 10. 



t This animal, if I mistake not, is the Lacerta hullaris, or Bladder Lizard, of 

 Turton, vol. i., p. 666. The facility with vyhich it changes color is surprising, 

 and not generally known to naturalists. 



