370 SWALLOW-TAILED HAWK. 



Southern States, and as its courtships take place on the wing, its mo- 

 tions 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 mar- 

 gin of a stream or pond. It resembles that of the Common Crow ex- 

 ternally, being formed of dry sticks, intermixed with Spanish moss, and 

 is lined with coarse grasses and a few feathers. The eggs are fi'om four 

 to six, of a greenish-white colour, with a few irregular blotches of dark 

 brown at the larger end. The male and the female sit alternately, the 

 one feeding the other. The young are at first covered with buff-colour- 

 ed down. Their next covering exhibits the pure white and black of the 

 old birds, but without any of the glossy purphsh 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 foi*med im- 

 mediately after the breeding-season is over. 



Hardly any difference as to external appearance exists between the 

 sexes. They never attack birds or quadrupeds of any species, with the 

 view of preying upon them. I never saw one alight on the groimd. 

 They secure their prey as they pass closely over it, and in so doing some- 

 times seem to alight, particularly when securing a snake. The common 

 name of the Snake represented in the plate is the Garter Snake. 



Falco FURCATU3, Linn. Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. \29.—Lath. Ind. Omith. voL i p. 22. 



— Ch. Bonaparte, Synops. of Birds of the United States, p. 31. 

 Swallow-tailed Falcok, Lath. Synops. vol. i. p. 60. 

 Swallow-tailed Hawk, Wils. Amer. Omith. vol. vi. p. 70. PI. 51. Fig. 2. 



Adult Male. Plate LXXIL 



Bill short, strong, curved, compressed towards the tip, opening to be- 

 neath the eye ; upper mandible cerate, its dorsal outline curved from the 

 base, the edges acute and overlapping, the tip trigonal, very acute ; lower 

 m.andible rounded on the back, the edges acute, the tip rounded and' de- 

 clinate. Head large, neck short, body robust. Feet rather short ; tarsus 

 very short, scaly all round ; toes scaly, scutellate above, excepting at the 

 base ; claws curved, very acute. 



Plumage rather compact, blended, glossy. Wings very long and 



