in considering that it required to be distinguished generi-
cally from the species belonging to the genera M ilvtts and
E l a n u s , with which it was previously associated. I have
also availed myself of the detailed generic characters published
by Mr. Swainson in his Natural History and Classification
of Birds, volume ii. p. 210.
The first of these two examples of the Swallow-tailed
Kite just referred to as having been taken in Britain was
killed at Balachoalist, in Argyleshire, in 1772, and, according
to Dr. Fleming, was recorded by the late Dr. Walker in
his Adversaria for 1772, page 87, and for 1774, page 158.
The occurrence of the second example is thus recorded in
the fourteenth volume of the Transactions of the Linnean
Society, page 5 8 3 :—fi Dr. Sims, F.L.S. communicated to
the Society an extract of a letter from W. Fothergill, Esq.
of Carr-end, near Arkrigg, in Yorkshire, containing a notice
of the Falco furcatus Linn, having been taken alive in
Shaw-gill, near Hawes, in Wensleydale, in that county, on
the 6th of September 1805. Mr. Fothergill states, that,
apparently to avoid the violence of a tremendous thunderstorm,
and the clamorous persecution of a flock of Rooks
which attacked it at the same instant, it took shelter in
a thicket, where it was seized before it could extricate itself.
The person who caught it kept it a month ; but a door being
accidentally left open, it made its escape. I t first alighted on
a tree at no great distance, from which it soon ascended in
a spiral flight to a great elevation, and then went steadily off
in a southerly direction as far as the eye could trace it.
The Swallow-tailed Kite, the Falco furcatus of Linneus,
is only an occasional visitor to this country : it is a native
of the southern states of North America, where it remains
during summer, but is observed in autumn going farther
south to pass the winter. According to Vieillot, it visits
Peru and Buenos Ayres.
The habits of this bird have been detailed from personal
observation by the American Ornithologists, Messrs. Wilson,
Audubon, and N u tta ll; and to Mr. Audubon’s Biography
I am indebted for the following particulars of the geographical
distribution and habits of this bird.
u A solitary individual of this species has once or twice
been seen in Pennsylvania. Farther to the eastward the
Swallow-tailed Hawk has never, I believe, been observed.
Travelling southward, along the Atlantic coast, we find it
in Virginia, although in very small numbers. Beyond that
State it becomes more abundant. Near the falls of the Ohio
a pair had a nest and reared four young ones in 1820. In
the lower parts of Kentucky it begins to become numerous ;
but in the States farther to the south, and particularly
in parts near the sea, it is abundant. In the large prairies
of the Attacapas and Oppellousas, it is extremely common.”
“ In the States of Louisiana and Mississippi, where these
birds are abundant, they arrive in large companies in the
beginning of April, and are heard uttering a sharp plaintive
note. At this period I generally remarked that they came
from the westward, and have counted upwards of a hundred
in the space of an hour, passing over me in a direct easterly
course. At that season, and in the beginning of September,
when they all retire from the United States, they are easily
approached when they have alighted, being then apparently
fatigued, and busily engaged in preparing themselves for
continuing their journey, by dressing and oiling their feathers.
At all other times, however, it is extremely difficult
to get near them, as they are generally on wing through
the day, and at night rest on the higher pines and cypresses,
bordering the river-bluffs, the lakes, or the swamps of that
district of country.”
“ They always feed on the wing. In calm and warm
weather they soar to an immense height, pursuing the large