MISSISSIPPI KITE. 
73 
whose maimer of %ht it so exactly imitates 
y ^0 seem the same species, only in miniature, or seen 
more immense ^height. Why these two birds. 
— IIIXIIIOJIJIOC ’r ‘■•J 
diff manners, in other respects, are p 
j ®«rent, should so freipiently associate together in air, 
“'*> at a loss to comprehend. We cannot for a moment 
^/Pose them mutually deceived by the similarity of 
other’s flight : the keenness of their vision forbids 
J suspicion of this kind. They may perhaps be 
J^ed, at such times, in mere a,museraent, as they 
^ observed to soar to great heights previous to^a 
I"?: 
P, ''Ui ; or, what is more probable, they may both be in 
J^uit of their respective food. One, that he may 
t| “uunoitre a vast extent of surface below, and trace 
otu ^'Uted atmosphere to his favourite carrion; the 
ii, in search of those large beetles, or coleopterous 
that are known often to wing the higher regions 
the air; and which, in the three individuals of this 
I of hawk which I examined by dissection, were 
„ Only substances found in their stomachs. For 
^ e'’al miles, as I passed near Bayo Manchak, the trees 
la* tp ^Warming with a kind of cicada, or locust, that 
of V *t deafening noise ; and here I observed numbers 
the hawk now before us sweeping about among the 
m ti* s wallows, evidently in pursuit of these locusts ; 
af that insects, it would appear, are the principal food 
a- this species. Yet when we contemplate the beak 
is S m'uus of this bird, both so sharp and powerful, it 
'hmcult to believe that they were not intended by 
tor some more formidable prey than beetles, 
lj\?**t8, or grasshoppers; and 1 doubt iiot but mice, 
onakms, and smaU birds, furnish him with an 
%®f^onal repast. , i i 
^/his hawk, which proved to be a male, though 
i>.uded and precipitated from a vast height, exhibited, 
a distress, symptoms of great strength, and an almost 
, ^ompierable spirit. I no sooner appro.ached to pick 
ivb, y than he instantly gave battle, striking rapidly 
harii uiuws, wdieeling round and round as he lay 
Ku-Uy on his rump ; and defending himseli with great 
