242 DAVENPORT ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



county in hollow trees, and more recently on the Palisades of the 

 Cedar River in Linn county. Now seldom seen except in migra- 

 tion." Chas. R. Keyes gives it as a "fairly common summer res- 

 ident in Linn county. Breeds in caves along the Cedar River." 



Suborder FALCONES. Diurnal Birds of Prey. 



Family FALCONID.i^. Vultures, Falcons, Hawks, 

 Eagles, Etc. 



The birds included in this family are well-marked in structure 

 and characteristics. They possess great bodily strength and 

 strong powers of flight, obtaining their food, which consists of 

 small mammals, birds, reptiles, and insects, by capturing it alive. 

 Nearly every species is of great benefit to the farmer as a destroyer 

 of the multitudes of the small rodents which injure the crops. 

 Great masses of statistics have been collected which show that the 

 value of the poultry and game birds consumed by them is infini- 

 tesimal when compared with the services rendered in other ways. 

 With the possible exception of two or three species, they should 

 be strictly protected. 



Subfamily ACCIPITRINtE. Hawks. 

 Genus Eeanoides Vieillot. 



135- (327). Elaiioides forpcatvs (Linn.). Swallow-tailed Kite. 



The Swallow-tailed Kite was formerly a tolerably common 

 summer resident throughout the state, but of recent years it is of 

 infrequent occurrence, though reported hy nearh' all observers. 



Thomas Say observed the species in Pottawattamie county in 

 1819-20. Prince Maximilian also observed it on the Missouri 

 (Reise, i, 306): May 8, 1833 — " Etwas weiter aufwarts tritt 

 Floyd' s-River hervor, und an den Floyd's Hvigeln zeigen sich 

 einzelne Nadelholz-Baiime, iiber dene der weisse gabelschwiinzige 

 Milan (/•<2/r6'/>crrrt//^i;) in der Luft -schwebte." . . . (Ibid, ii, 340) 

 May II, 1834 (mouth of Little Sioux), " bemerkten in der Luft 

 ein Paar der schonen weiss und schwarzen Milanen, welchen die 

 franzosichen Abkommlinge am Mississippi la fregata nennen." 

 Audubon noted "a Swallow-tailed Kite" near Council Bluffs in 

 1843 (Journals, i, 481). 



J. zA.. Allen (Mem. Bost. Soc, i, 1868, 500) writes: " Common. 

 Often seen in considerable numbers, and generally over or near 



