98 FALCONIDtE. 



nowhere common, it is said to occur also in Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, and Southern 

 Illinois, but it has not yet beea recorded from Arizona or New Mexico *. 



Although a regular migrant throughout Central America, very little concerning this 

 species has been recorded from within our limits. It was procured by Salle in Jalapa, 

 by Sumichrast at Mirador and Orizaba, and by Skinner in Guatemala, but did not 

 come under our notice in that country. 



E. leucurus, like its relative the Swallow-tailed Kite, preys only upon small snakes, 

 lizards and frogs, and grasshoppers and other insects. Its flight is graceful, resembling 

 that of a Gull. 



The nest is placed in a tree, at a height of thirty or forty feet from the ground ; it is 

 composed of stout sticks and lined with cotton-wood bark or straw. The eggs, varying 

 from three to five in number, are so thickly marked with red blotches that the creamy- 

 white ffround-colour is often obscured. 



GAMPSONYX. 



Gampsonyx, Vigors, Zool. Joura. ii. p. 69 (1825) ; Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. i. p. 340 ; Ridgw. 

 Bull. U. S. Geol. fe Geogr. Surv. ii. p. 150. 



This genus contains but one species, which resembles a diminutive Elanus, though 

 more strikingly coloured. Mr. Eidgway says the tail is more than two-thirds the 

 length of the wing,, whereas in Elanus it is less ; and in Gampsonyx the scales of the 

 feet are larger, and the transverse scutellse of the toes extend nearly to their base. 

 It is probably only a rare visitor to the Southern States of Central America, but in 

 South America it extends over a large area. 



1. Gampsonyx swainsoni. 



Gampsonyx swainsoni, Yigors, Eool. Journ. ii. p. 69'; Gray, Gen. Birds, i. p. 26, t. 9. f. 4^; 

 Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. i. p. 340 \ 



Supra plumbea, scapularibue ad basin albis, secundariis albo terminatia ; torque cervicali rufa ; fronte et genis 

 albis, flavo tinctis ; corpore subtus albo, hypochondriis et tibiis rufis ; alls subtus albia ; cauda plumbea, 

 rectrice extima utrinque albo marginata, rectrice proxima in pogouio interno tantum albo limbata : rostro 

 nigro, pedibus carneis. Loog. tota circa 9-0, alsB 6-4, caudse 3'9, tarsi 1-1. (Descr. maris ex Leon, 

 Nicaragua. Mus. nostr.) 



5 mari simiUs, sed pai£o major. 



Hab. Nicaragua, Leon (Eichardson). — South America generally, from Colombia and 

 Guiana to South Brazil ^. 



Although a bird of wide distribution in South America, with the exception of the 

 pair obtained by Mr. Richardson at Leon in Nicaragua on December 15th, 1892, 

 we have no record of its occurrence within our limits. 



