372 SWALLOW-TAILED HAWK. 



smoke !" This I have also observed on several oocasions in the Flori- 

 das and in Louisiana, since the publication of my first volume. 



Is it not somewhat strange, Reader, that because Wilson, who 

 never saw a Swallow-tailed Hawk alive, but drew his figiire from a 

 stuffed specimen in Peale's Museum in Philadelphia, represented its 

 eyes and feet pure yellow, these colours are to this day quoted and 

 given in coloured plates ; whereas I have long since described the eyes 

 as hlack, and the feet pale blue tinged with green ! 



The following are some of the dimensions of an individual. Length 

 to end of tail 22 inches, to end of wings 19, to end of claws 13 ; extent 

 of wings 47. Weight 1 lb. Of another, the length to end of tail 22 

 inches, to end of wings 19;^, to end of claws 12| ; extent of wings 48;^. 

 Weight 15 oz. 



An adult male from Texas in spirits. The general description of 

 the mouth is the same as that of most other Hawks, the palate being 

 flat, with two longitudinal ridges, and an anterior tuberculate ridge. 

 The posterior aperture of the nares oblong, with an anterior slit, which 

 has the edges papillate. The lower mandible is much more decurved 

 toward the end than in any other North American species. The tongue 

 is correspondingly decurved, but otherwise of ordinary form, 9 twelfths 

 long, sagittate and finely papillate at the bjise, flat above, narrowed and 

 slit at the point, the fissure being 1 twelfth in depth. 



The oesophagus is 5^ twelfths long. It differs from that of all other 

 American birds of this family examined, in being destitute of a crop 

 or sacciform dilatation, and in resembling that of the Owls, being of 

 the uniform diameter of about 1 inch in its whole length. Its walls 

 are extremely thin, and its muscular coat has its fibres disposed in fas- 

 ciculi, resembling those of the stomach. The latter organ is extremely 

 large, being 2 inches 4 twelfths long, 2 inches 3 twelfths broad ; its 

 walls very thin, the muscular coat composed of a single series of dis- 

 tinct fasciculi, as in the Owls, the tendons roundish and 10 twelfths in 

 diameter. The heart is Ij^j inch long, 10 twelfths broad. The left 

 lobe of the liver is larger than the right, the former being 1 inch 5 

 twelfths, the latter 1 inch 3 twelfths in length. The gall-bladder, which 

 is oblong, is 9 twelfths in length. In the stomach are six snakes, of 

 a very slender form, and light green colour, one of them 22^ inches 

 in length, together with one large larva, 3 inches long, and 2 cole- 



