64 DIVISION I. VERTEBRAL ANIMALS.—CLASS II. AVES. 
from the United States, they are easily approached when they have alight- 
ed, being then apparently fatigued, and busily engaged in preparing them- 
selyes for continuing their journey, by dressing and oiling their feathers. 
At all other times, however, it is extremely difficult to get near them, as 
they are generally on the wing through the day, and at night rest on the 
higher pines and eypresses bordering the river bluffs, the lakes, or the 
swamps of that district of country. They always feed on the wing. In 
calm and warm weather they soar to an immense height, pursuing the large 
insects called Mosquito Hawks, and performing the most singular eyolutions 
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 
searching for grasshoppers and caterpillars, it is not dificult to approach 
under cover of a fence or tree. When one of them is killed and falls to 
the ground, the whole flock come over the dead bird, as if intent upon car- 
rying 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 im- 
mediately 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 
externally, being formed of dry sticks, intermixed with Spanish moss, and 
is lined with coarse grasses and a few feathers. The eges are from four to 
six, of a ereenish-white color, with a few irregular blotches of dark brown ~ 
at the large end. The male and female sit alternately, the one feeding the 
other. The young are at first covered with buff-colored down. Their nest 
covering exhibits the pure white and black of the old birds, but without any 
of the glossy-purplish tints of the latter. The tail, which at first is but 
slightly forked, becomes more so in a few weeks, and at the approach of 
autumn exhibits little difference from that of the adult birds. The plumage 
is completed the first spring. Only one brood is raised in the season, The 
species leaves the United States in the beginning of September, moving off 
in flocks, which are formed immediately after the breeding season is over.” 
The Kite is distributed over the ereatest part of Europe and Asia, and 
the northern districts of Africa. In the British islands it appears to be less 
common than formerly: in Ireland it is not known. Formerly it was very 
abundant in the southern counties of England, and Clusius states, that 
when he was in London an amazing number of Kites flocked there for the 
