SWALLOW-TAILED KITE. 73 



The habits of this bird have been detailed from personal 

 observation by the American Ornithologists, Messrs. Wilson, 

 Audubon, and Nuttall ; and to Mr. Audubon"'s Biography 

 I am indebted for the following particulars of the geographi- 

 cal distribution and habits of this bird. 



" A solitary individual of this species has once or twice 

 been seen in Pennsylvania. Farther to the eastward the 

 Swallow-tailed Hawk has never, I believe, been observed. 

 Travelling southward, along the Atlantic coast, we find it 

 in Virginia, although in very small numbers. Beyond that 

 State it becomes more abundant. Near the falls of the Ohio 

 a pair had a nest and reared four young ones in 1820. In 

 the lower parts of Kentucky it begins to become numerous ; 

 but in the States farther to the south, and particularly 

 in parts near the sea, it is abundant. In the large prairies 

 of the Attacapas and Oppellousas, it is extremely common." 



" In the States of Louisiana and Mississippi, where these 

 birds are abundant, they arrive in large companies in the 

 beginning of April, and are heard uttering a sharp plaintive 

 note. At this period I generally remarked that they came 

 from the westward, and have counted upwards of a hundred 

 in the space of an hour, passing over me in a direct easterly 

 course. At that season, and in the beginning of September, 

 when they all retire from the United States, they are easily 

 approached when they have alighted, being then apparently 

 fatigued, and busily engaged in preparing themselves for 

 continuing their journey, by dressing and oiling their fea- 

 thers. At all other times, however, it is extremely difficult 

 to get near them, as they are generally on wing through 

 the day, and at night rest on the higher pines and cypresses, 

 bordering the river-bluffs, the lakes, or the swamps of that 

 district of country." 



" They always feed on the wing. In calm and warm 

 weather they soar to an immense height, pursuing the large 



