C. If. Merriam Birds of Connecticut. 77 



head, and that " there is no doubt as to its identity." Mr. W. W. 

 Coe, of Portland, Conn., tells me that he saw a Swallow-tailed Kite in 

 that vicinity, during the summer of 1861. He was crossing an open 

 meadow when the Kite suddenly dove, close to where he was stand- 

 ing, and arose with a snake in its talons. This it devoured while in 

 the air, much to the surprise of Mr. Coe, who was not then familiar 

 with its habits. A specimen has also been observed in Massachusetts 

 quite recently.* It has been shot on Long Island (Giraud). The 

 cause of its restricted northern range, in the eastern province, at the 

 present time, can scarcely depend on the temperature (as generally 

 supposed), for it was once not only common in New England, but 

 actually wintered here. Williams, writing in 1794, says that they 

 were then found in Vermont, and " seem to be fitted by nature, to 

 endure all the diversity of our climate, and are to be seen in the 

 coldest weather of our winters."! The power of wing exhibited by 

 this splendid species is truly wonderful. Its swift flight and abrupt 

 turnings can only be compared to those of the Swallow. I have 

 often seen them, in Florida, dart down and pick a wasp's nest from 

 the under side of a palmetto leaf, devouring the grubs it contained 

 while on the wing.J; Dr. Coues writes thus of it : " The Swallow- 

 tailed Kite is a marked feature of the scene in the Southern States, 

 alike where the sunbeams are redolent of the orange and magnolia, 

 and where the air reeks with the pestilent miasrn of the moss- 

 shrouded swamps that sleep in perpetual gloom. But, imbued with a 

 spirit of adventure, possessed of unequaled powers of flight, it often 

 wanders far from its southern home ; it has more than once crossed 

 the ocean, and become a trophy of no ordinary interest to the ardent 

 collector in Europe." It extends northward in the Mississippi 

 Valley, "where it regularly occurs above .the mouth of the Missouri." 

 " Marked among its kind by no ordinary beauty of form and bril- 

 liancy of color, the Kite courses through the air with a grace and 

 buoyancy it would be vain to rival. By a stroke of the thin-bladed 

 wings and a lashing of the cleft tail, its flight is swayed to this or 

 that side in a moment, or instantly arrested. Now it swoops with 

 incredible swiftness, seizes without a pause, and bears its struggling 

 captive aloft, feeding from its talons as it flies ; now it mounts in 

 airy circles till it is a speck in the blue ether and disappears. " 



* Rarer Birds of Mass., J. A. Allen, p. 46, 1869. 



f The Natural and Civil History of Vermont, by Samuel Williams, p. 112, July 16, 

 1794. 



t Am. Nat., vol. viii, No. 2, p. 88, Feb., 1874. 

 Coues' Birds of the Northwest, p. 332, 1874. 



