107 



SWALLOW-TAILED FALCON. 



Falco furcatus. F. albus, dorso alls caudaque longissima for' 



ficata purpureo-nigricantibus. 

 White Falcon, with the back, wings, and very long forked tail 



purplish black. 

 Falco furcatus. F. ccra obscura, pedibus flavescentibus, corpore 



supra fusco subtus albido, cauda forficata longissima. Lin. 



Sj/st. Nat. 

 Swallow- tailed Hawk. Cates'o. Carol. 1. p. 4. pi. 4. 



This species is a native of America, and may 

 certainly be considered as one of the most beau- 

 tiful birds of the present genus. Its length is about 

 two feet, and its proportions in the highest degree 

 elegant : the wings very long and slender, and the 

 tail more sharply forked in proportion than in a 

 swallow: the back, wings, and tail are of a rich 

 purplish black, with a gloss of changeable green; 

 the head, neck, and whole under parts, together 

 with the thighs, milk white, in some specimens 

 very slightly tinctured with a cast of pale yellow: 

 the insides of the smaller wing-feathers, towards 

 the tips, are also white : the bill is black, rather 

 small, curved, and extremely sharp-pointed: the 

 legs short, and the thighs covered somewhat lower 

 than the knees with lengthened plumes. The 

 whole bird, on a general view, has so much the 

 appearance of some gigantic species of Swallow, 

 that we cannot be surprised at the assertion of the 

 elder Scaliger, who affirms that he had seen an 

 exotic Swallow or Swift of the size of a Buzzard, 



