96 SWALLOW-TAILED HAWK. 



very extremity of the branches, where both become the prey 

 of the Hawk.* 



The Swallow-tailed Hawk retires to the south in October, at 

 which season, Mr. Bartram informs me, they are seen in Flo- 

 rida, at a vast height in the air, sailing about with great steadi- 

 ness; and continue to be seen thus, passing to their winter quar- 

 ters, for several days. They usually feed from their claws 

 as they fly along. Their flight is easy and graceful, with some- 

 times occasional sweeps among the trees, the long feathers of 

 their tail spread out, and each extremity of it used, alternately, 

 to lower, elevate, or otherwise direct their course. I have ne- 

 ver yet met with their nests. 



These birds are particularly attached to the extensive prai- 

 ries of the western countries, where their favourite snakes, li- 

 zards, grasshoppers and locusts, are in abundance. They are 

 sometimes, though rarely, seen in Pennsylvania and New Jer- 

 sey, and that only in long and very warm summers. A spe- 

 cimen now in the Museum of Philadelphia, was shot within a 

 few miles of this city. We are informed, that one was taken 

 in the South sea, off the coast which lies between Ylo and Ari- 

 ca, in about lat. 23 south, on the eleventh of September, by 

 the Reverend the Father Louis Feuillee. t They are also com- 

 mon in Mexico, and extend tneir migrations as far as Peru. 



The Swallow-tailed Hawk measures full two feet in length, 

 and upwards of four feet six inches in extent; the bill is black; 

 cere yellow, covered at the base with bristles; iris of the eye 

 silvery cream, surrounded with a blood-red ring; whole head 

 and neck pure white, the shafts fine black hairs; the whole low- 

 er parts also pure white; the throat and breast shafted in the 

 same manner; upper parts, or back, black, glossed with green 

 and purple; whole lesser coverts very dark purple; wings long, 

 reaching within two inches of the tip of the tail, and black; 



* This animal, if I mistake not, is the Lacerta bullaris, or Bladder Lizard, of 

 Tiirton, vol. i, p. 666. The facility with which it changes colour is sur- 

 prising, and not generally known to naturalists. 



t Jour, des Obs. TOM. u, 33. 



