6o 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



the nutritious portion of the food has been absorbed, the indigestible parts, such as hair, 

 feathers, scales, bones, and other hard parts, are rolled into a solid ball by the action of 

 the muscles of the stomach. These masses, known as ' pellets,' are regurgitated before 

 fresh food is taken. The pellets contain ever^-thing necessary to identify the food. To 

 the wholly beneficial class belong the large Rough-legged Hawk, its near relative, the 

 Squirrel Hawk or Ferruginous Rough-leg, and the four Kites — the White-tailed Kite, 

 Mississippi Kite, Swallow-tailed Kite, and Everglade Kite. The chiefly beneficial class 

 contains a majority of our Hawks and Owls, and includes the following: Marsh Hawk, Harris's 

 Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Red-shouldered Hawk, Short-tailed Hawk, Sennett's White-tailed 

 Hawk, Swainson's Hawk, Short-wing Hawk, Broad-winged Hawk, Mexican Black Hawk, 

 Mexican Goshawk, Sparrow Hawk, and Audubon's Caracara. The class in which the harm- 

 ful and beneficial qualities balance includes the Golden Eagle, Bald Eagle, Pigeon Hawk, 

 Richardson's Pigeon Hawk, Prairie Falcon, and Great Horned Owl. The harmful class com- 

 prises the Gyrfalcons, Duck Hawk, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Cooper's Hawk, and Goshawk." 



SWALLOW-TAILED KITE 



Elanoides forficatus (Linncrus) 



A. O. U. Number 327 



Other Names. — Swallow-tailed Hawk; Swallow-tail; 

 Fork-tailed Kite ; Snake Hawk. 



General Description. — Length, 24 inches. Head and 

 under parts, wliite; upper parts, black. Wings, long 

 and reaching nearly to the tip of the deeply forked tail; 

 feet, stout but very short, the tarsus feathered halfway 

 in front ; talons, short, well-curved, scooped out, and 

 sharp-edged on the under surface. Outer tail-feathers 

 about 8 inches longer than middle-pair. 



Color. — Adults: Cro'cvii, head, and neck all round, 

 and entire under parts including under zviny-coverts, 

 pure snozvy white; back, wings, and tail, glossy-black 

 with varying luster, principally violet and greenish-blue ; 

 shoulder feathers and lesser wing-coverts with a pro- 

 nounced bronzy cast ; bill, bluish black ; cere, pale bluish ; 

 feet, pale bluish-green with light-colored claws. 

 Young: Similar to aduUs, but with head and neck 



narrowly streaked with blackish, and most of dark 

 flight feathers edged and tipped with white. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest: Usually in the top of tall 

 trees near water courses; composed of dry twigs, sticks, 

 hay, and occasionally moss. Eggs : 2 or 3, sometimes 

 4, white or bufify. boldly blotched and speckled, chiefly 

 around the larger end in handsome patterns, with rich 

 chestnut-brown and cinnamon. 



Distribution. — North and South America ; breeds 

 locally from southeastern Saskatchewan, northern 

 Minnesota, southern Wisconsin, southern Indiana, and 

 South Carolina south through eastern Mexico and 

 Central America to Peru, Bolivia, and Paraguay ; acci- 

 dental west to New Mexico and Colorado and north to 

 northern Wisconsin, Ontario, New York, Maine, Mass- 

 achusetts, and in England ; casual in the Greater 

 Antilles; winters south of the United States. 



In Florida Everglades where the Miami 

 River rises, I had the pleasure and satisfaction 

 of studying those remarkable birds the Swallow- 

 tailed Kites. Gifted with extraordinary wing 

 and tail surfaces they live almost entirely in the 

 air, floating, soaring, and circling with all the 

 buoyancy and dash of their minor prototypes, 

 the Barn Swallows, to whom they bear a singular 

 resemblance in shape, color, action, and super- 

 lative wing power — in fact in nearly everything 

 but size. 



The three birds I observed were feeding on 

 small snakes, apparently water moccassins, 

 which were neatly snatched from their lurking 

 places in the reeds and devoured on the wing. 



This aerial feeding was gracefully performed by 

 a forward thrust of the talons holding the food, 

 a mouthful being taken by bending the head 

 suddenly downward. One of the birds carried 

 aloft a small alligator, perhaps a foot long, but the 

 morsel proved too obdtirate and was dropped. At 

 times they made long downward sweeps like the 

 drop of Nighthawks, apparently in a spirit of 

 play. 



No other North American bird approaches the 

 Swallow-tail in the grace and beauty of its flight ; 

 the Duck Hawk alone equals it in speed. The 

 former conveys the impression of lightness in 

 tlie air ; the latter, of power and impetuosity. 



Incubation starts in March in the southern 



