370 
MISSISSIPPI KITE. 
other in search of those large beetles, or coleopterous insects, 
that are known often to wing the higher regions of the air ; 
and which, in the three individuals of this species of Hawk 
which I examined by dissection, were the only substances 
found in their stomachs. For several miles, as 1 passed near 
Bayo Manchak, the trees were 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 when 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. Not- 
withstanding all my caution in seizing him to carry him home, 
he struck his hind claw into my hand with such force as to 
penetrate into the bone. Anxious to preserve his life, I endea- 
voured 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 greater 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 wing, and energy of character, and ease and 
