240 Mr. 11. Owen on the Habits 



XXVIII. — On the Habits of the Siv allow -tailed Kite (Elanoides 

 furcatus) in Guatemala. By Robert Owen, C.M.Z.S. 



These imperfect notes on the Swallow-tailed Kite, being the 

 result of personal observation, may (as I believe little is known 

 of the habits of this species) prove to be of some interest to the 

 readers of the ' Ibis/ It appears to me, however, indispensable 

 to diverge somewhat at first, so as to give some idea of the 

 locality where I made my observations, and of the character of the 

 country by which I was surrounded. I had passed several weeks 

 at Cohan (Alta Vera Paz), engaged in a variety of occupations ; 

 such as puzzling out '' la lengua,'' as the language of the Indians 

 is termed, collecting birds' skins, and listening to the inter- 

 minable tales of Indian life and adventure, in which some of the 

 " Ladinos" {i. e. the mixed race of Spaniards and Indians) are so 

 well versed. All the time I had been constant in rapid per- 

 ambulations to keep myself warm. To hurry along at the pace 

 adopted to get up a reaction after emerging from the clammy 

 folds of the " wet sheet " at an hydropathic institution, may 

 seem a strange proceeding in the tropics ; but it must be borne 

 ^u mind that Cohan is essentially a ' tierrafria,' and that during 

 the * temporales ' (the term applied to a succession of dull rainy 

 days), which are of pretty frequent occurrence, one feels as damp 

 and miserable there as in a wet November day in England. 

 During the whole of my stay at Cohan the sun had only shone 

 brightly a few times; so, having given up all hopes of fine 

 weather, I ordered my mules to be saddled, Indians to be looked 

 up to carry my baggage, and resolved to make the best of my 

 way towards San Geronimo. 



The first day's journey brought me to Tac-tic, an Indian town 

 about eight leagues from Cohan. One end of a rancho was 

 placed at my disposal, with much ceremony and profound genu- 

 flexions, by its owners — a dusky party of the fair sex — whose 

 hospitality I solicited. It contained a dilapidated four-poster 

 of the country ; a table in the last stage of decay, with a decided 

 tendency to launch the wooden image which was upon it head- 

 foremost into the middle of the hut ; and, lastly, an indescribable 

 piece of furniture, of which a large party of fowls availed them- 



