THE NATURAL HISTORY SURVEY. 9 1 



Academy of Sciences. Mr. B. T. Gault informs me that on April 

 I, 1896, he saw three Turkey Vultures flying near the tracks of 

 the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad near Sacramento Ave- 

 nue, Chicago. The birds were so near that the naked red of 

 their heads was plainly discernible. Even at the time that Mr. 

 E. W. Nelson wrote his "Birds of Northeastern Illinois," in 

 1876, these Vultures were fully as rare within our limits as they 

 are now. Mr. Nelson states that they were then a common sum- 

 mer resident sixty miles south of Chicago. 



The range of the Turkey Vulture is an extensive one, covering 

 the whole of temperate and tropical America from the southern 

 portion of the British Possessions southward to Patagonia and 

 the Falkland Islands. 



FAMILY TALCONID^: KITES, HAWKS, EAGLES, ETC. 



Genus ELANOIDES Vieillot, 1818. 

 Elanoides forficatus (Linnseus). Swallow-tailed Kite. 



Falco forficatus L1NN.3EDS, S. N., ed. 10, 1, 1758, 89. 



Falco furcatus Linn^tjs, S. N., ed. 12, I, 1766, 129. 



Namclerws furcatus Via., Zool. Journ., II, 1825, 387. 



Elanoides forficatus CouES, Pcoc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 1875, 

 345. 



Popular synonyms : ' Swaxlow-tailed Hawk. White-headed Swal- 

 low Kite. Fish-tail Hawk. Snake Hawk. 



While this species may have been quite common many years 

 ago, it is certainly a very rare visitant to our area at the present 

 time. I have but one record of the taking of this species within 

 our vicinity : Mr. J. Grafton Parker, Jr., shot one at Lake Villa, 

 a few miles north of Chicago, on June 5, 1895. Mr. Henry K. 

 Coale reports the taking of three adult specimens at Highland 

 Park in April, 1905. In his "Catalogue of Animals observed in 

 Cook County, Illinois,"* Mr. Robert Kennicott lists the Swallow- 

 tailed Kite with the following comment: "Though once com- 

 mon, this fine bird is now rare. It is still found in the middle 

 of the state." Mr. Kennicott also states that it was known to 

 nest in Cook County. Mr. E. W. Nelson says rf "I can testify 

 to its scarcity at present (1876), only two or three instances of 

 its occurrence in this vicinity within the last twenty years having 

 been ascertained.'' 



The range of this species includes the United States east of 

 the Great Plains and from Canada southward into South Amer- 



*Trans. Illinois State Agri. Society, Vol. I, 1863-1854, 581. 



tBirds of Northeastern Illinois. Bull, of the Essex Institute, Vol. VIII, 1876, 118. 



