Elanus. RAPTORES. ELANUS. 77 



Genus ELANUS, Savigny. ELANUS. 



GENERIC CHARACTERS. 



Bill weak, of mean length, compressed, nearly straight at 

 the base, the tip hooked. Wings long, with the second feathers 

 generally the longest. The first and second having their 

 inner web strongly notched. Tail long, more or less forked. 

 Legs with the tarsi short, feathered for half their length ; 

 the naked part of the tarsus being reticulated. Claws strong, 

 and incurved; the under surface, in some species, partly 

 rounded. 



The birds of this genus, like the Kites, are remarkable 

 for their graceful circling flight. In them the bill is of weak 

 conformation, and with a very slight indication of a festoon 

 upon the upper mandible. The tarsi are short, and feathered 

 half way along the front. The toes are separate, and, in 

 some species, the side and hind claws are rounded beneath, 

 as in the genus Pandion. Their food consists of reptiles, 

 &c., but more particularly of the larger insects, which they 

 capture with their feet, and then devour in the air. They 

 seem to represent the Jissirostral tribe of the Insessores 

 among the Falconidae. 



SWALLOW-TAILED ELANUS. 



El ANUS FUECATus, Sttvigny. 



Elanus furcatus, Shawns Zool. 13. 49. sp. 2. 



Nauclerus furcatus, Vig. in Zool. Joum. No. ?• 387— Lessoti's Num. 



d'Omith. 1. 101. 

 Falco furcatus, Linn. Syst. 1. 129. 25 — Gmel. Syst. 1. 262.— Lath. Ind. 



Om. 1. 22. sp. 41 Lin7i. Trans. 14. 583. 



Milvus Carolinensis, Briss. 1. 418. 36. 



Milan de la Caroline, Buff. Ois. 1. 221 — Cuv. Reg. Anim. 1. 322. 



Swallow-tailed Falcon, Penn. Arct. ZooL 2. No. 108. t. 10 Lath. Syn. 1, 



60. 42. 

 Swallow-tailed Hawk, Wils. Amer. Om. 6. 67. pL 51. f. 3— Id. Ed. Sir 



Wm. Jardine, 2. 275. p. 51. fig. 3 Audubon's PI. 72 Id, Om. Biog. 1. 



361. 



