526 



SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS.— MAPTOBES— ACCIPITBE8. 



a small superorbital shield of a single bone. A beautiful genus of a single species, related to 

 the Old World Milvus (typical kites) and especially to Nauclerus, with which latter it has 

 usually been associated. 

 493. E. forfica'tns. (Lat. forficatus, deeply forked. Figs. 366, 367.) Swallow-tailed Kite. 

 Adult (J 9 • Head, neck, baud on rnuip, and entire under parts, including lining of wings, snow- 

 white ; back, wings, and tail, glossy black, with various lustre, chiefly green and yiolet. Bill 

 bluish-black ; cere, edges of mandibles, ^nd feet pale bluish, the latter tinged with greenish ; 

 daws light-«)lored. Length about 24.00, but very variable; extent 50.00 ; wing 15.50-17.30; 

 tail up to 14.50, cleft more than ^ its length ; tarsus about 1.25 ; middle toe without claw 

 rather less. Young: Similar; less lustrous ; wing- and tail-feathers white-tipped ; feathers of 

 head and neck pencilled with delicate shaft lines of blackish. This most elegant kite, super- 

 lative in ease and grace of the wing, floats, soars, and dashes over the greater part of America, 

 and even crosses the Atlantic on its buoyant pinions. It is abundant in the Southern U. S., 

 sometimes winging its way to the Middle States, and regularly up the whole Mississippi valley, 

 to Minnesota and Dakota, latitude 49°. Known to nest from Wisconsin and Iowa southward. 

 The nest is placed on a tree, constructed of sticks, hay, moss, etc. ; eggs 4-6, whitish, 1.90 X 1.50, 

 irregularly blotched and specked with rusty and chestnut-brown. 



44. Subfamily ACCIPITRIN/E : Hawks. 



General form strict, with smaU head, shortened wings, 

 and lengthened tail and legs. Tarsi approximately equal 

 to the tibia in length. Bill short, robust, high at base ; 

 toothless, but usually with a prominent festoon ; no cen- 

 tral tubercle in the broadly oval nostril, nor keel of palate 

 anteriorly. Superciliary shield prominent. Coracoid ar- 

 rangement as in Buteoninm, into which group the present 

 one grades. Wings ct>ncavo-convex, the 3d to 6th quills 

 longest, the 1st very short and more or less bowed inward, 

 the outer 3 to 5 emarginate or sinuate on inner webs. 

 Tail quite long, .square or rounded, sometimes emargi- 

 nate, nearly equalling the wing in length. Tarsi slender, 

 longer than middle toe without claw, usually extensively 

 if not completely denuded of feathers, and scutellate 

 before and behind. This is an extensive group of 

 medium-sized and small hawks, little if at all inferior in 

 spirit of audacity to the true falcons, though less power- 

 fully organized and in fact conforming in anatomical 

 characters with the Buteoninm rather than with the Falconinm. In the technic of falconry, 

 the Accipitrinee are styled "ignoble," because these short-winged hawks rake after the quarry, 

 instead of plunging upon it like the " noble" long-winged falcons. Their flight is swift and 

 dashing; they capture their prey in open chase with amazing celerity and address, always 

 killing for themselves and disdaining refuse. Their quarry is chiefly birds and quadrupeds. 

 Ast^(/r and Acdpiter are the typical and principal genera, of which some 50 species (chiefly of 

 the former genus) are known, inhabiting most parts of the world. Our representatives of 

 these genera are easily discriminated, but some exotic species connect them quite closely. 



Analysia of Genera. 



Small and medinm-slzed; length 20.00 or less. Tarsus more extensively denuded, and scutellate, some- 

 times booted ... Accipiter 17& 



Large ; length over 20 00. Tarsus lem extensively denuded, and scutellate, never booted . . . Astur 177 



Pig. 368.— a typical Accipitrine. (From 

 Dixon.) 



