70 
Genus VI. — ELANUS, Sav. 
Bill short, small, very wide at the base, much compressed toward the end ; 
upper mandible with the dorsal line convex and declinate to the end of 
the cere, then deeurved, the sides slightly convex, the tip narrow and 
acute, the edges with a distinct festoon, lower mandible with the angle 
very wide and long, the dorsal line very short, and slightly convex, the 
tip obliquely truncate, and narrow. Nostrils elliptical, rather large, 
about half-way between the cere and ridge. Head rather large, broad, 
flattened above; neck short; body compact. Legs rather short ; tarsus 
very short, stout, roundish, feathered anteriorly for half its length, the rest 
covered with small roundish scales ; toes short, thick, scaly, with a few termi- 
nal scutella ; claws long, curved, conical, rounded beneath, acute. Plumage 
very soft, and rather blended. Wings very long and pointed, the second 
quill longest. Tail of moderate breadth, long, emarginate, and rounded. 
BLACK-SHOULDERED HAWK. 
Elanus dispar, Tem. 
PLATE XVI. — Male and Female. 
I have traced the migration of this beautiful Hawk from the Texas as far 
east as the mouth of the Santee River in South Carolina. Charles Bona- 
parte first introduced it into our Fauna, on the authority of a specimen 
procured in East Florida by Titian Peale, Esq., of Philadelphia, who it 
seems had some difficulty in obtaining it. On the 8th of February, 1834, I 
received one of these birds alive from Dr. Ravenel, of Charleston, who had 
kept it in his yard for eight days-previously, without being able to induce it 
to take any food. The beauty of its large eyes struck me at once, and I 
immediately made a drawing of the bird, which was the first I had ever seen 
alive. It proved to be a male, and was in beautiful plumage. Dr. Ravenel 
told me that it walked about his yard with tolerable ease, although one of its 
wings had been injured. On the 23d of the same month I received another 
fine specimen, a female, from Francis Lee, Esq., who had procured it on 
his plantation, forty miles west of Charleston, and with it the following note. 
“ When first observed, it was perched on a tree in an erect posture. I saw 
