KITE. 071 



principally on insects, and are farther remarkable for 

 devouring their prey on wing. Of one species of this 

 latter genus, the E. furcatus, an individual or two have 

 been seen in Britain ; but it seems to me to have no 

 more right to be included in a description of British 

 birds than the Loxia astrild, of which I have a male 

 that was shot near Edinburgh in June 1835 ; the car- 

 dinal grosbeak, of which I have seen a specimen killed 

 near Dalkeith; or the passenger pigeon, which D^ 

 Fleming mentions as having occurred in Fife. With, 

 respect to that bird, then, it may suffice that I refer to 

 Mr Audubon's description and figure of it : — Swallow- 

 tailed Hawk, Falco furcatus. Ornith. Biogr. vol. i. 

 p. 368. Birds of America, Plate Ixxii. Male. Should 

 one meet with it, which is not more likely than that he 

 should fall in with an Albatross, he may readily distin- 

 guish it by its long deeply forked tail, its white colour 

 beneath, and its black wings, back and tail. 



