MISSISSIPPI KITE. 
73 
buzzards, whose manner of flight it so exactly imitates 
as to seem the same species, only in miniature, or seen 
at a more immense height. Why these two birds, 
whose food and manners, in other respects, are so 
different, should so frequently associate together in air, 
I am at a loss to comprehend. We cannot for a moment 
suppose them mutually deceived by the similarity of 
each other’s flight : the keenness of their vision forbids 
all suspicion of this kind. They may perhaps he 
engaged, at such times, in mere amusement, as they 
are observed to soar to great heights previous to a 
storm ; or, what is more probable, they may both be in 
pursuit of their respective food. One, that he may 
reconnoitre a vast extent of surface below, and trace 
the tainted atmosphere to his favourite carrion ; the 
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 I 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, which proved to be a male, 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 
