298 



NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



of very 8imilar form an<l Imbits to the swallow-tail, but much smaller and of less strik- 

 ing a])]it'arancc, the upper parts being merely ashy and dusky, entirely lacking the 

 deej) black so cons])icu<)us in the American bird. 



In the kites thus far mentioned, the bill is comparatively short and broad, though 

 not particularly strong. There is a grou]> of American kites, however, which arc very 

 different from these, and in which the bill is lengthened, slender, and with a remarka- 

 bly long and sharp hook. Tlie hook-billed kite, Rostrliamus hamatus, of South 

 America, is a good exam])le of the group, and a)ipears to have precisely the same 

 habits as its somewhat more northern relative, the everglade-kite, li. sociabilis, which 



Fio. 139. — Iclinia gubcxi'iilfa, Mi^Hi^sippi kilt- 



illow-taileUkito. 



occurs in some numbers in the Everglades of Florida. Tliese birds seem to be 

 unusually sociable for birds of i)rey, several being usually observed together, but it is 

 questionable if iliis h;ibit is more strongly developed here than in other species of the 

 Milvina'. 



Perhaps the most interi'stiiig thing in connection with the ]iresent genus is the 

 entirely unexpected nature of its food. "We shouM naturally exjiect a bird of this 

 conformation to take much of its food on the wing, and should be prepared to find 

 that winged insects or active re]>tiles, such as lizards, made up the bulk of it, although 

 neither of these sup])ositions would provide an ade.iuatc cxplanalion of the Ion;'- 



