KITES, HAWKS, EAGLES, ETC. 



(Family Falconidce) 



Swallow-tailed Kite 



(Elanoides forficatus) 



Called also: FORK-TAILED KITE; SNAKE HAWK. 



Length About 24 inches, or according to development of tail. 

 Wing spread about 4 feet. 



Male and Female Head, neck, under parts, including wing 

 linings, band across lower back, snow white ; rest of plum- 

 age glossy black, showing violet and green reflections. Bill 

 bluish black; feet and very short legs, light. Tail 14 inches 

 long and cleft like a swallow's for half its length. 



Range United States, especially in the interior, from Pennsyl- 

 vania and the great plains southward to Central and South 

 America. Casual in New England, Minnesota, Manitoba, 

 and Assiniboia; nesting irregularly throughout its range ; 

 winters chiefly south of United States. 



Season Summer resident. April to October. 



Not excepting even the turkey vulture, the tern or the 

 swallow, no bird moves through the sky with more exquisite 

 grace and buoyancy than this beautiful black and white, sharp 

 winged kite, whose motion combines the special fascinations 

 of each of its three close rivals. Soaring upward, buzzard 

 fashion, until it sometimes fades from sight, or floating like it on 

 motionless pinions; now swooping with the dash of a tern and 

 catching itself suddenly just above the earth to skim along the 

 surface like a swallow; swaying its trim body with a cut of the 

 wing and the lashing of its long forked tail, it pauses neither for 

 rest nor food, but apparently spends every waking moment in the 

 air. It is supposed it even sleeps while it floats, so little con- 

 scious effort is evident in its flight; and it feeds a-wing by tear- 

 ing off bits of the snake, or other prey, firmly grasped in its 

 small feet. This has been seized while passing and without 



309 



