278 SWALLOW. TAILED HAWK. 



SWALLOW-TAILED HAWK. (Falco furcatus.) 



PLATE LI.— Fig. 3. 



Linn. Syst. 129. — Lath. i. 60. — Hirundo maxima Peruviana avis praedatoris calca- 

 ribus instructa, Feuillee, Voy. Peru, torn. ii. 33. — Catesb. i. 4. — Le Milan de 

 la Caroline, Briss. i. 418. — Buff. i. %0..—Turt. Syst. 149.—Arct. Zool. p. 210, 

 No. 108.— Peace's Museum, No. 142. 



ELANUS FURCATUS.— Sayigny* 



Le Milan de Caroline, Cuv. Beg. Anim. i. p. 322. — Elanus furcatus, Bonap. Synop. 

 p. 31. — Nauclerus furcatus, Vig. Zool. Journ. No. vii. p. 387. — Less. Man. 

 d'Ornith. i. p. 101. — The Swallow-tailed Hawk, Aud. pi. 72 ; Orn. Biog. i. 

 p. 368. 



This very elegant species inhabits the southern districts of 

 the United States in summer ; is seldom seen as far north as 

 Pennsylvania, but is very abundant in South Carolina and 



* The characters of the birds composing this genus are, — general 

 form of less strength than most of the Falconidce ; bill, rather weak ; 

 tooth, little seen ; the tarsi, short, thick, reticulated, and partly 

 feathered in front ; wings, greatly elongated ; timorous, and, like the 

 kites, excel in flight, circling in the air. Mr Vigors has formed a genus, 

 Nauclerus, of this and a small African species, dividing them from 

 Elanus, where they were placed by most prior ornithologists. In these 

 two birds the tail is forked to a great extent, while in the others it 

 only commences to assume that form, and in one is altogether square. 

 The claws, also are not circular underneath, as in the others, to which 

 Mr Vigors would restrict Elanus. The wings of the two birds, how- 

 ever, show considerable difference ; the quills, in the American, being 

 abruptly emarginated, the third longest ; in the African, the second is 

 longest, and only a slight emargination on the two first. Altogether 

 we are not quite satisfied with the distinctions. I have for the present 

 retained Elanus, notwithstanding the differences that do exist between 

 some of its members. 



According to Audubon, they feed chiefly on the wing ; and having 

 pounced on any prey upon the ground, rise with it, and devour it 

 while flying. " In calm and warm weather," he remarks, " they soar 

 to an immense height, pursuing the large insects called mosquito hawks, 

 and performing the most singular evolutions that can be conceived, 

 using their tail with an elegance peculiar to themselves." They thus 

 show a manner of feeding entirely different from most birds of prey, 

 which generally retire to some distance, and devour in quiet on the 

 ground. There are some partly insectivorous hawks — Penis, for in- 



