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GENUS NAUCLERUS — VIGORS 



SWALLOW-TAILED HAWK. 



[Bill short, wide at the base, much compressed toward the end — upper mandi- 

 ble with the dorsal line decurved from the base ; head rather large, roundish, 

 flattened ; neck short, body compact, feet short ; tarsi very short, thick, scaly 

 all round ; plumage glossy ; wings extremely long, pointed ; tail extremely 

 long, very deeply forked.] 



NAUCLERUS FURCATUS— LINN. 



SWALLOW-TAILED HAWK. 



Swallow-tailed Hawk, Falco furcatus, Wils Amer. Orn. 



Falco furcatus, Bonap. Syn. 



Swallow-tailed Hawk, Falco furcatus, Aud. Orn. Biog. 



Specific Character — Tail long, deeply forked. Adult with the 

 head, neck all round, and lower parts white ; back, wings, and 

 tail black, glossed with blue and purple ; feet light blue, tinged 

 with green ; claws flesh-colored ; tail long and deeply forked. 

 Length of male twenty-two inches, wing seventeen and a quarter. 

 Female three inches longer. 



In the summer of 1837 a specimen of this elegant species was 

 shot while sailing over the south shore of Long Island, in the vicin- 

 ity of Raynor South. It being the only individual that has been 

 observed in this district, and so different from all our other Hawks, 

 it was looked upon as a great curiosity by our gunners. 



According to Wilson, " it inhabits the southern districts of the 

 United States in summer : is seldom seen as far north as Pennsyl- 

 vania, but is very abundant in South Carolina and Georgia — and 

 still more so in West Florida, and the extensive prairies of Ohio 

 and the Indiana territory. It is particularly attached to the exten- 

 sive prairies of the western countries, where its favorite snakes, liz- 



