80 
THE SWALLOW-TAILED HAWK 
and snap off the pupse of the locust, or that insect itself. Although when on 
wing they move with a grace and ease which it is impossible to describe, yet 
on the ground they are scarcely able to walk. 
I kept for several days one which had been slightly wounded in the wing. 
It refused to eat, kept the feathers of the head and rump constantly erect, 
and vomited several times part of the contents of its stomach. It never 
threw itself on its back, nor attempted to strike with its talons, unless when 
taken up by the tip of the wing. • It died from inanition, as it constantly 
refused the food placed before it in profusion, and instantly vomited what 
had been thrust down its throat. 
The Swallow-tailed Hawk pairs immediately after its arrival in the 
Southern States, and as its courtships take place on the wing, its motions are 
then more beautiful than ever. The nest is usually placed On the top branches 
of the tallest oak or pine tree, situated on the margin of a stream or pond. 
It resembles that of the Common Crow externally, being formed of dry 
sticks, intermixed with Spanish moss, and is lined with coarse grasses and a 
few feathers. The eggs are from four to six, of a greenish-white colour, 
with a few irregular blotches of dark brown at the larger end. The male 
and the female sit alternately, the one feeding the other. The young are at 
first covered with buff-coloured down. Their next covering exhibits the 
pure white and black of the old birds, but without any of the glossy purplish 
tints of the latter. The tail, which at first is but slightly forked, becomes 
more so in a few weeks, and at the approach of autumn exhibits little 
difference from that of the adult birds. The plumage is completed the first 
spring. Only one brood is raised in the season. The species leaves the 
United States in the beginning of September, moving off in flocks, which 
are formed immediately after the breeding season is over. 
Hardly any difference as to external appearance exists between the sexes. 
They never attack birds or quadrupeds of any species, with the view of 
preying upon them. I never saw one alight on the ground. They secure 
their prey as they pass closely over it, and in so doing sometimes seem to 
alight, particularly when securing a snake. The common name of the Snake 
represented in the plate is the Garter Snake. 
Swallow-tailed Hawk, Falco furcatus, Wils. Amer. Orn., vol. vi. p. 1 0. 
Falco furcatus, Bonap. Syn., p. 31. 
Swallow-tailed Hawk, Falco furcatus, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. i. p. 368; vol. v. p. Bll . 
Adult Male. 
Wings very long and acute, the third quill longest, the first equal to the 
fifth, the primaries widely graduated, the secondaries comparatively very 
