190 SWALLOW-TAILED NAUCLERUS. 



which attacked it at the same instant, it took 

 shelter in a thicket, where it was seized before it 

 could extricate itself. The person who caught 

 it kept it a month ; but a door being accidentally 

 iefl open, it made its escape. It first alighted on 

 a tree at no great distance, from which it soon 

 ascended in a spiral flight to a great elevation, 

 and then went steadily off in a southerly direction 

 as far as the eye could trace it." 



The best accounts of the habits of this bird are 

 to be found in the works of Wilson and Audubon. 

 It is a native of the Southern States of North 

 America, extending into Mexico, performing 

 migrations southward from the colder districts, 

 and, according to Audubon, never seen farther to 

 the eastward than Pennsylvania. The most 

 remarkable peculiarity in its history, is its great 

 power of flight and the manner of feeding, which, 

 when considered along with the slender form and 

 elongated forked tail, are very strong evidences 

 of its being the representative here of the inces- 

 sorial Fissirostres. The flight is described by all 

 as remarkably easy, graceful, and buoyant, and 

 great use is made of the tail in directing the turns 

 and windings. The food is snakes, lizards, and 

 small reptiles, caterpillars, grasshoppers, and large 

 insects. Audubon says, that in pursuit of these 

 they never alight, but clutch them up with an 

 easy stoop, and without ny apparent exertion, 



