I 



SWALLOW-TAILED HAWK. 71 



The Swallow-tailed Hawk retires to the south in October, at 

 which season, Mr. Bartram informs me they are seen in Florida 

 at a vast height in the air, sailing about with great steadiness; and 

 continue to be seen thus, passing to their winter quarters, for se- 

 veral days. They usually feed from their claws as they fly along. 

 Their flight is easy and graceful, with sometimes occasional sweeps 

 among the trees, the long feathers of their tail spread out, and 

 each extremity of it used, alternately to lower, elevate, or other- 

 wise direct their course. I have never yet met with their nests. 



These birds are particularly attached to the extensive prai- 

 ries of the western countries, where their favorite snakes, lizards, 

 grasshoppers and locusts are in abundance. They are sometimes, 

 tho rarely, seen in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and that only 

 in long and very warm summers. A specimen now in the Mu- 

 seum of Philadelphia, was shot within a few miles of this city. 

 We are informed, that one was taken in the South sea, off the 

 coast which lies between Ylo and Arica, in about lat. 23° south, 

 on the eleventh of September, by the Reverend the Father Louis 

 Feuillee.^ They are also common in Mexico, and extend their 

 migrations as far as Peru. 



The Swallow-tailed Hawk measures full two feet in length, 

 and upwards of four feet six inches in extent; the bill is black; 

 cere yellow, covered at the base with bristles ; iris of the eye sil- 

 very cream, surrounded with a blood red ring; whole head and 

 neck pure white, the shafts fine black hairs ; the whole lower parts 

 also pure white ; the throat and breast shafted in the same man- 

 ner; upper parts, or back, black, glossed with green and purple; 

 whole lesser coverts very dark purple; wings long, reaching within 

 two inches of the tip of the tail, and black; tail also very long, and 

 remarkably forked, consisting of twelve feathers, all black glossed 

 with green and purple ; several of the tertials white or edged with 



* Jour, des Obs. torn. II, 33, 



