107 



SWALLOW-TAILED FALCON. 



Falco furcatus. F. albiis, dorso alis caudaque longissima for' 



Jicata purpureo-nigricantibus. 

 White Falcon, with the back, wings, and very long forked tail 

 purplish black. 



Falco furcatus. F. cera ohscura, pedibiis Jlavescentibus , corporc 

 supra fusco subtus albido^ cauda forjicata longissima, Un, 

 Syst, NaiJ^ 



Swallow- tailed Hawk. Catesb. Carol. 1, p. 4. pL A, 



This species is a native of America, and may 

 certainly be considered as one of the most beau- 

 tiful birds of the present genus. Its length is about 

 two feet, and its proportions in the highest degree 

 elegant : the wings very long and slender, and the 

 tail more sharply forked in proportion than in a 

 swallow: the back, wings, and tail are of a rich 

 purphsh black, with a gloss of changeable greeny 

 the head, neck, and whole under parts, together 

 with the thighs, milk white, in some specimens 

 very slightly tinctured with a cast of pale yellow: 

 the insides of the smaller wing-feathers, towards 

 the tips, are also white : the bill is black, rather 

 ^mall, curved, and extremely sharp-pointed: the 

 legs short, and the thighs covered somewhat lower 

 than the knees with lengthened plumes. The 

 whole bird, on a general view, has so much the 

 ?ippearance of some gigantic species of Swallow, 

 that we cannot be surprised at the assertion of the 

 elder Scaliger, who affirms that he had seen an 

 exotic Swallow or Swjft of the size of a Buzzard^, 



