ELANOIDES. 95 



Eagles, while the feeble Harpagus and Ictinia are placed in the Falconinae on account 

 of their toothed bill. There are, however, some Old- World genera, not represented in 

 the Neotropical region, which Dr. Sharpe has placed as intermediate forms between the 

 Eagles and the Kites. As a whole, the Milvinse are distributed over nearly the entire 

 temperate and tropical portions of the world, but the only genus of such wide range is 

 Elanus. The other seven genera of our region are purely American, and four of them 

 are strictly Neotropical. 



Dr. Coues defines the Milvinae as follows : — " No ruff or ear-conch. Loral bristles 

 moderate, scanty or quite wanting, the head being then closely and softly feathered to 

 the bill. Superciliary shield evident or not. Bill usually weak, sometimes extremely 

 slender, the cutting-edge of the maxilla straight to the curve, or lobed or festooned, 

 not [usually] toothed, nor the mandible truncate and notched. Nostrils not circular, 

 nor with central bony tubercle (except Harpagus). Wings very long, more or less 

 narrowed and pointed, with several primaries emarginate on the inner webs. Tail very 

 variable in length and shape, nearly even or deeply forked ; feet very small ; tarsus 

 much shorter than the tibia, apparently equal to the middle toe without the claw, 

 usually feathered above, the rest mostly or entirely reticulate in small pattern (with few 

 or no large transverse scutellee). The general organization is Buteonine ; the septum 

 nasi is incompletely ossified, and the anterior ridge of the palate is little developed, if 

 at all ; the superciliary shield is in one or two pieces." 



ELANOIDES. 



Elanoides, Vieill. N. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. xxiv. p. 101; Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. i. p. 317; 

 Ridgw. Bull. U. S. GeoJ. & Geogr. Surv. ii. pp. 153, 180. 



The large Swallow-tailed Kite, which is the sole representative of this genus, is 

 easily distinguished from all the other American Birds of Prey by its long and deeply- 

 forked tail. The nostrils are not swollen as in Elanus and some other Kites ; they are 

 oblique, without overhanging membrane ; the tomium of the bill is without indentation. 

 The wings are of great length, but are nearly equalled by the outer tail-feathers, a 

 relative proportion not found in many Birds of Prey. Only two outer quills show any 

 sinuation on their inner webs. 



Dr. Shufeldt (Ibis, 1891, pp. 228-231) has given some notes on the osteology of the 

 present genus, pointing out certain characteristics which it shares with the Ospreys. 



1. Elanoides fiircatus. 



The Swallow-tailed Kite, Catesby, N. H. Carol, i. p. 4, t. 4 \ 

 Falco furcatus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 129 ^ 



Elanoides furcatus, Scl. & Salv. Ibis, 1859, p. 330'; Owen, Ibis, 1860, p. 340*; Salv. Ibis, 

 1861, p. 148"; P. Z. S. 1867, p. 158'; 1870, p. 316'; Lawr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. vii. 



