68 
SWALLOW-TAILED HAWK. 
wings were single, of a dark amber color, and twice as long as the body, 
which widened towards the extremity, where it was slightly indented ; 
feet two clawed. 
This insect lived for several days between the crystal and dial-plate 
of a watch, carried in the pocket ; but being placed for a few minutes 
in the sun, fell into convulsions and died. 
Species XI. FALCO FURCATUS* 
SWALLOW-TAILED HAWK. 
[Plate LI. Fig. 2.] 
Linn. Syst. 129. — L.\th. i., 60. — Hiruado maxima Peruviana avis pi-a'daforis calca- 
ribtis insfriicta, Feuili.ee, Voi/. Pei-u, torn, ii., 33. — Catesb. i., 4. — Le Milan de 
la Caroline, Briss. i., 418.— Buff, i., 221.-Turt. Syst. W).—Arct. Zool. p. 210, 
No. 108. 
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 Georgia, and still more so 
in "West Florida, and the extensive prairies of Ohio and the Indiana 
Territory. I met with these birds, in the early part of May, at a place 
called Duck Creek, in Tennessee, and found them sailing about in great 
numbers near Bayo Manchac on the Mississippi, tAventy or thirty being 
within vieAV at the same time. At that season a species of Cicada, 
or locust, swarmed among the woods, making a deafening noise, and I 
could perceive these Hawks frequently snatching them from the trees. 
A species of lizard, which is very numerous in that quarter of the 
country, and has the faculty of changing its color at Avill, also furnishes 
the SwalloAV-tailed Hawk with a favorite morsel. These lizards are 
sometimes of the most brilliant light <rreen, in a few minutes change to 
a dirty clay color, and again become nearly black. The Swallow-tailed 
Hawk, and Mississippi Kite, feed eagerly on this lizard; and, it is said, 
on a small green snake also, which is the mortal enemy of the lizard, 
and frequently pursues it to the very extremity of the branches, Avhere 
both become the prey of the Hawk.t 
The Swallow-tailed Hawk retires to the south in October, at which 
* F. forjicahis, Linn. Syst. i., p. 89, Sp. ii., ed. 10. — Lath. Ind. Orn. p. 22, No. 
41. — Milinis furcatns, Vieillot, Ois. de I'Am. Sept. vol. i., p. 38, pi. 10. 
t This animal, if I mistake not, is the Lacerta biiUaris, or Bladder Lizard, of 
Tui'toii, vol. I., p. 666. The facility with which it changes color is surprising, 
and not generally known to naturalists. 
