148 
FALCONS, HAWKS, EAGLES, ETC. 
GENUS ELANOIDES. 
327. Elanoides forficatus (Linn.). Swallow-tailed Kite. 
Wings long, slender, acute ; tail forked, and nearly as long as wing ; 
feet short but stout; tarsus feathered 
about half way down in front; bill rather 
weak. Adults : white; back, wings, and 
tail black, bloomed with gray; lesser wing 
coverts bronzy purple. Young: head 
and neck streaked, back brownish, with 
greenish instead of purple gloss; wings 
and tail feathers narrowly tipped with 
white. Length : 19.50-25.50, wing 15.40- 
17-70, outer tail feathers 12.50-14.50, bill 
.70-80. 
Distribution. — From Assiniboia south 
to South America, and, in the United 
States, from the Carolinas west to the 
Plains; casually to Colorado and south¬ 
ern New England. Breeds irregularly 
throughout its United States range. 
Nest. — In tops of tall trees, usually 
near watercourses, made of dry twigs and 
sometimes of gray moss. Eggs: 1 to 4, 
white or buffy, boldly spotted or blotched, 
chiefly around larger end, with browns. 
Food. — Mainly reptiles and insects. 
Tlie swallow-tailed kite lives mainly on the wing and by virtue of 
its long tail has a remarkably graceful flight. When hunting it 
flies close to the ground like a marsh hawk, but at other times sails 
above the treetops, sometimes so far above that it takes a good eye 
to see it. The kite picks up both food and nesting materials while 
on the wing, carrying its food in its talons and eating as it goes. 
Its call-notes have been given as a shrill, keen e-e-e or we-we-we, uttered 
in a high key which carries a long distance. 
GENUS ELANUS. 
328. Elanus leucurus (Vieill.). White-tailed Kite. 
Bill rather weak and compressed; feet very small; tarsus feathered 
half way down in front, and below covered with minute roundish scales; 
claws not grooved beneath ; hind toe very short, claws all small and little 
curved; wings nearly or about twice as long as tail, pointed, first and 
second quills emarginate, the feathers broad, obtuse at tips. Adults: 
under parts white, upper parts plain bluish gray, except for white top of 
head and tail , and black patches around eye and on shoulders. Young: re¬ 
sembling adults, but tinged with rusty, extensively on under parts ; upper 
parts indistinctly streaked; wing feathers tipped with white; tail with an 
indistinct subterminal dusky band. Length : 15.15-16.75, wing 11.50- 
13.30, tail 5.90-7.40, bill .G5-.80. 
Distribution. — Tropical America, except the West Indies ; north in the 
United States to about the latitude of San Francisco on the Pacific coast, 
St. Louis in the interior, and South Carolina in the east. 
From Biological Survey, U. S. Dept, of 
Agriculture. 
Fig. 220. 
