332 jSTAUCLERUS FOEFICATUS, SWALLOW-TAILED KITE. 



NAUCLEEUS FOEFICATUS, (Linn.) Eidgw. 



Swallow-tailed Kite, 



Falco forficatus, Linn., Syst. Nat. i, ed. x, 1758. (Prior name.) 



JS'aucleriis forficatus, Ridgw. — B. B. & R., N. A. B. iii, 1874, 192. — Mekr., Am. Nat. viii, 

 1874, 88 (Florida). 



Falco fiircatus, Lixx., Syst. Nat. r, 17fi(J. 129 (Gates., Car. pi. 4; Bmss., Orn. i, 418; P. 



■ E. 72).— Gm., Syst. Nat. i, 1788', 262.— Lath., lud. Oru. i, 1790, 22.—l)xvi>., Tr. 



Orn. ii, 1806, 152.— Shaw, G. Z. vii, 1809, 107.— Flem., Br. An. 52.— WiLS., Am. 



Orn. vi, 1812, 70, iil. 51, fig. 3.— Nutt., Man. i, 18:12, 95.— AuD., Orn. Biog. i, 



1830, 368 ; v, 1839, 371 ; pi. 72.— DeKay, N. Y. Zool. 1844, pi. 7, fig. 55. 



Mihus furcatus, ViEit,E., O. A. S. i, 1807, pi. 10.— Jen., Man. 86 — Eyx., Cat. Br. B. 66. 



Elanu.s furcatus, ViG-, Zool. Jonrrj. i, 340. — Steph., G. Z. xiii. pt. ii, 49.— Cirv., E. A. 2d 

 ed. i, 334.— Bp., Syu. 1828, 31.— James., ed. Vv'il.s. i, 75.— jAl!D.,ed. Wils. ii, 275. 



Elanoides furcatus, Vieill., Enc. Metb. 1204.— Gkav, G. of B. i, 24, pi. 9, fig. 9.— Stricki ., 

 Oru. Syn. 1855, 141.— 0\vi-;x, Ibis, ii, 1880, 240 (biography).— Salv., P. Z. S. 1867, 

 1.j8 (V'eragua).- Lawk., Ann. Lvc. N. Y. ix, 1868, 134 (Costa Kica). 



Jfauclerus furcatus, ViG., Zool. Joiirn. ii, 182.5, 387 ; Isis, 1830, 1043.— Le.s.s., Man. i, 182'^, 

 101; Tr. Orn. 73.— Sw., Cla,ssif. B. ii, 1837, 210.— Bp., List, 1838, 4; Consp. Av. 

 i, 185U, 21.- Ac'D., Svn. 1839, 14 ; B. Am. i. Iin40, 78, )il. 18.— Gould, B. E. |)1. 

 30.— WoooH., Sitgr. Kup. 1853, 60.— Cass., 111. 18.54, 105.— Brew., N. A. 0. 18.57, 

 38.— Bd., B. N. a. 1858, 36.— ScL., Ibis, i, le59, 220 (Guatemala).— Wiikat.. Ohio 

 Agric. Eep. 1860, No. 14.— CorES & Prent., Smiths. Rep. 1861, 402.— Lawr., 

 Ann. Lye. N. Y. vii, 18!;i, 289 (Panama) ; viii, 1806, 280.— CouES, Pr. Bost. Soc. 

 xii, 1868, 120 (South Carolina).— Turnb., B. E. Pa. 1869, 40.— Allen, Am. Nat. 

 iii, 1870, 645 (Massachusetts).— Ridgw., Pr. Phila. Acad. 1870, 144.— TiappE, 

 Pr. Ess. Inst, vi, 1h71, 113 (Minnesota).— Allex, Bull. U. C. Z. iii, lK7-.i, 130.— 

 CoUES, Key, 1872, 211.— Snow, B. Kans. 1873.— Duess., Ibis, 1865, :?25 (Texas).— 

 Hatch, Bull. Minn. Acad, i, 1874, 51 (Minnesota). — Ridgw., Ann. Lye. x, 1>'74, 

 380 (Illinois). — Hart., Br. B. 1872, 88 (Gnat Britain, five instances, with 

 references). 



Elanoides yeCapa, Vieill., Enc. Metli. iii, 1823, 1205. 



Hah. — South Atlantic and Gnlf States. On the Atlantic coast not regularly beyond 

 Virginia, but casually to Massachusetts. Up the whole Mississippi Valley, however . 

 (Kansas, 6'nmc, Allen; Iowa, Cooper ; Minnesota, lat. 47°, Trippe). Up the Missouri to 

 Fort Leavenworth, at least (Coues). Cuba {Cahanis, J. f. 0. ii, p. Ixxxiii). South to 

 Brazil {Cabanis, J. f. 0. v, 41 ; Ednh., Vid. Med. 1870, 65). Accidental in Europe. 



Marked among its kind by no culinary beauty of form and brilliancy 

 of color, the Kite courses through the air with a grace and buoyancy it 

 would be vain to rival. By a stroke of the thin-bladed wings and a 

 lashing of the cleft tail, its tliglit is swayed to this or that side in a mo- 

 ment, or instantly arrested. Now it swoops with incredible swiftness, 

 seizes without a pause, and bears its struggling captive aloft, feeding 

 from its talons as it flies ; now it mounts in airy circles till it is a speck 

 in the blue ether and disappears. All its actions, in wantonness or in 

 severity of the chase, display the dash of the athletic bird, which, if 

 lacking the brute strength and brutal ferocity of some, becomes their 

 peer in prowess — like the trained gymnast, whose tight-strung thews, 

 supple joints, and swelling muscles, under marvellous control, enable 

 him to execute feats that to the more massive or not so well conditioned 

 frame would be impossible. One cannot watch the flight of the Kite 

 without comparing it with the thorough-bred racer. 



The Swallow tailed Kite is a marked feature of the scene in the 

 Southern States, alike where the sunbeams are ledolent of the orange 

 and magnolia, and where the air reeks with the pestilent miasm of moss- 

 shrouded swamps tliat sleep in perpetual gloom. But, imbued witli a 

 spirit of adventure, possessed of unequaled powers of flight, it often 

 wanders far from its southern home; it has more than once crossed the 

 ocean, and become a trophy of no ordinary interest to the ardent col- 

 lector in Europe. On the Atlantic coast its natural limit appears to be 

 the lower portions of Virginia, similar in physical and zoological char- 

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