SWALLOW-TAILED KITE. 87 



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 wann 

 weather they soar to an immense height, pursuing the 

 large insects called musquito hawks, and performing the 

 most singular evolutions that can be conceived, using their 

 tail with an elegance of motion peculiar to themselves. 

 Their principal food, however, is large grasshoppers, grass- 

 caterpillars, small snakes, lizards, and frogs. They sweep 

 close over the fields, sometimes seeming to alight for a 

 moment to secure a snake, and, holding it fast by the 

 neck, carry it off, and devour it in the air. When search- 

 ing for grasshoppers and caterpillars, it is not difficult to 

 approach them under cover of a fence or tree. When one 

 is then killed and falls to the ground, the whole flock 

 comes over the dead bird, as if intent upon carrying it off. 

 An excellent opportunity is thus afforded of shooting as 

 many as may be wanted, and I have killed several of these 

 Hawks in this manner, firing as fast as I could load my 

 gun."* 



" The Swallow-tailed Hawk pairs immediately after its 

 arrival in the southern States; and as its courtships take 

 place on the wing, its motions are then more beautiful 

 than ever. The nest is usually placed on the top branches 

 of the tallest oak or pine tree, situated on the margin of a 

 stream or pond. It resembles that of a Carrion Crow ex- 

 ternally, being formed of dry sticks, intermixed with Spa- 

 nish moss, and is lined with coarse grasses and a few fea- 

 thers. The eggs are from four to six, of a greenish white 

 colour, with a few irregular blotches of dark brown at the 

 larger end. The male and the female sit alternately, 



* Mr. Nuttall says, that the Swallow-tailed Kites seize upon the nests 

 of locusts and wasps, and, like the Honey-Buzzard, devour both the insects 

 and their larvae. 



