FALGGN. 273 



217— SWALLOW-TAILED FALCON. 



Falco Turcatus, Ind. Orn. i. 22. Lin. Si/st. i. 129. Gm. Lin. i. 3G2. Shaw's Zool. vii. 



107. 

 Milvus Carolinensis, Bris.\. 418. Jrf. 8vo. 118. Daud.'ii. 152. Bii/.l 221. 

 Falco Peruvianus, cauda furcata, Klein. Av. 51. 14. 

 Hirundo maxima peruviana, Feuill. It, ii. p. 33. 

 Le Milan noir & blaac, Vieill. Am. ii. 38. pi. 10. 

 Le Faucoa k queue en ciseaux, Voy. d'A^ara, iii. No. 38. 

 Swallow-tailed Falcon, Gen. Syn. i. 60. Id. Sup. ii. p. 28. Arct. Zool. ii. No. 108. pi. 



10. Laivs. Carol. 138. Bart. Trav. 286. Nat. Misc. pi. 204. Amer. Orn. vi. pi. 



51. f. 2. 



THIS mo&t elegant species is less than the common Kite ; 

 length two feet, breadth four. Bill black ; cere blue ; irides reddish 

 orange ; head, neck, breast, and beneath pure white, in some in- 

 clining to buff-colour ; rest of the plumage above, the wings, and 

 tail purplish brown, almost black, glossed with green on the rump, 

 upper tail coverts, and tail ; shape of the last very forked, 13 in. in 

 length, the two outer feathers exceeding the middle ones full eight 

 inches ; the wings, wh^n closed, reach t^vo-thirds on the tail ; legs 

 yellow. 



Both sexes are nearly alike in plumage. 



Inhabits Carolina, in summer; also Georgia, feeding on snakes, 

 the larvte of wasps, and other insects, tearing the nests of them, 

 which hang on the trees, for the sake of the contents. By some it is 

 called the Snake-Hawk ; is migratory, retiring in the colder season 

 to Peru, and other parts of South America. M. d'Azara supposes 

 this to be the bird quoted from his voyage above, but M. Sonnini, 

 his commentator, thinks it a distinct species. 



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