76 
FALCO FURCATUS. 
0 
are seen in Florida, at a vast height in the air, sat 
about with great steadiness ; and continue to he s® 
thus, passing to their winter quarters, for several 
They usually feed from their claws as they fly 0 
Their flight is easy and graceful, with someH'J'^ 
occasional sweeps among the trees, the long feathef^j^ 
tlieir tail spread out, and each extremity of it 
alternately to lower, elevate, or otherwise direct ta 
course. I have never yet met with their nests. 
These birds are particularly attached to the exten®' ^ 
prairies of the western countries, where their favo''';j|, 
snakes, lizards, grasshoppers, and locusts are in ah ^ 
dance. They are sometimes, though rarely, seett . 
Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and that only in 
and very warm summers. A specimen now in the h 
seum of Philadelphia, was shot within a few 
that city. We are informed, that one was taken vi j 
South Sea, olF the coast which lies between Yle * j 
Arica, in about lat. 23 deg. south, on the eleventh < 
September, by the Reverend the Father Louis Feiiill^jf 
They are also common in Mexico, and extend tb 
migrations as far as Peru. jj 
The swallow-tailed hawk measures full two 6-'®* >; 
length, iind upwards of four feet six inches in est^'.A 
the bill is black ; cere, yellow, covered at the base "'Iji, 
bristles ; iris of the eye, silvery cream, surrounded 
a blood-red ring ; whole head and neck pure whitei ^ 
shafts fine black hairs ; the whole lower parts also j 
white ; the throat and breast shafted in the 
manner; upper parts, or back, Mack, glossed with 
and purple ; whole lesser coverts, very dark p'*fP J 
wing's long, reaching within two inches of the tip 
the tail, and black ; tail also very long, and remarki*^ 
forked, consisting of twelve feathers, all blaidc, 
with green and purple ; several of the tertials " jjjj 
or edged with white, but generally covered by , 
scapulars ; inner vanes of the secondaries, white on w 
f Jemr. ties Ohs, tom. ii, 33. 
