80 FALCONIDA. 
on wing through the day, and at night rest on the higher 
pines and cypresses, 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 musquito hawks, and performing the 
most singular evolutions 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 search- 
ing for grasshoppers and caterpillars, it is not difficult to 
approach them under cover of a fence or tree. When one 
is then killed and falls to the ground, the whole flock comes 
over the dead bird, as if intent upon carrying it off. An 
excellent opportunity is thus afforded of shooting as many 
as may be wanted, and I have killed several of these 
Hawks im this manner, firmg as fast as I could load my 
sun. © 
“The Swallow-tailed Hawk pairs immediately 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 ex- 
ternally, being formed of dry sticks, intermixed with Spanish 
moss, and is lined with coarse grasses and a few feathers. 
The eggs are from four to six, of a greenish white colour, 
* Mr. Nuttall says, that the Swallow-tailed Kites seize upon the nests of 
locusts and wasps, and, like the Honey-Buzzard, devour both the insects and 
their larvee. 
