MISSISSIPPI KITE. 
71 
of Hawk -wliicli I examined by dissection, wei'e tlie only substances 
found in their stomachs. For several miles, as I passed near Bayou 
Manchak, the trees Avere swarming with a kind of Cicada, or locust, 
that made a deafening noise ; and here I observed numbers of the Hawk 
now before us, sweeping about among the trees like swallows, evidently 
in pursuit of these locusts ; so that insects, it would appear, are the 
principal food of this species. Yet Avhen we contemplate the beak and 
talons of this bird, both so sharp and powerful, it is difficult to believe 
that they were not intended by nature for some more formidable prey 
than beetles, locusts, or grasshoppers ; and I doubt not but mice, lizards, 
snakes and small birds, furnish him with an occasional repast. 
This Hawk, though wounded and precipitated from a vast height, 
exhibited, in his distress, symptoms of great strength, and an almost 
unconquerable spirit. I no sooner approached to pick him up, than he 
instantly gave battle, striking rapidly with his claws, wheeling round 
and round as he lay partly on his rump ; and defending himself with 
great vigilance and dexterity ; while his dark red eye sparkled with 
rage. Notwfthstanding all my caution in seizing him, to carry him 
home, he struck his hind claw into my hand with such force as to pene- 
trate into the bone. Anxious to preserve his life, I endeavored gently 
to disengage it ; but this made him only contract it the more powerfully, 
causing such pain that I had no other alternative but that of cutting 
the sinew of his heel with my penknife. The whole time he lived with 
me, he seemed to watch every movement I made ; erecting the feathers 
of his hind-head, and eyeing me with savage fierceness ; considering me, 
no doubt, as the greatest savage of the two. What effect education 
might have had on this species, under the tutorship of some of the old 
European professors of Falconry, I know not ; but if extent of Aving, 
and energy of character, and ease and rapidity of flight, would have 
been any recommendations to royal patronage, this species possesses all 
these in a very eminent degree. 
The long pointed wings, and forked tail, point out the affinity of this 
bird to that family, or subdivision of the Falco genus, distinguished by 
the name of Kites, which sail without flapping the wings, and eat from 
their talons as they glide along. 
The Mississippi Kite measures fourteen inches in length, and thirty- 
six inches, or three feet, in extent. The head, neck, and exterior webs 
of the secondaries, are of a hoary white ; the lower parts a whitish ash ; 
bill, cere, lores, and narrow line round the eye, black ; back, rump, 
scapulars, and wing-coverts, dark blackish ash ; wings very long and 
pointed, the third quill the longest ; the primaries are black, marked 
down each side of the shaft with reddish sorrel ; primary coverts also 
slightly touched with the same ; all the upper plumage at the roots is 
white ; the scapulars arc also spotted with white ; but this cannot be 
