1. Nauclerus furcatus. (Linn.) The Swallow-tailed Hawk. Falco furcatus. Linn., Syst. Nat., I. p. 129. (1766.)
Cat. Car, pl. 4; Buff., Pl. Enl., 72; Wilson, Am. Orn., VI., pl. 51, fig. 3; Aud., B. of Am., pl. 72, oct. ed. I. pl. 18; Gould, B. of Eur., 1. pl. 30; De Kay, Nat. Hist. N. Y., Birds, pl. 7, fig. 15.
Wings and tail long, the latter deeply forked. Head and neck, inferior wing-coverts, secondary quills at their bases, and entire under-parts, white. Back, wings, and tail, black, with a metallic lustre, purple on the back and lesser wing-coverts, green and blue on other parts. Tarsi and feet greenish-blue; bill horn color.
Dimensions. Female—total length, 23 to 25 inches; wing, 16 to 17½; tail, 14 inches. Male—rather smaller.
Hab. Southern States on the Atlantic, and centrally northward to Wisconsin; Texas (Mr. Audubon); South Carolina (Prof. Gibbes); Wisconsin (Dr. Hoy); Pennsylvania (Mr. A. F. Darley); Jamaica (Mr. Gosse). Accidental in Europe. Spec. in Mus. Acad., Philada.
Obs. This very handsome Hawk is especially abundant in the Southern States. It cannot readily be confounded with any other North American species, though we have not been able to compare it with the Elanoides yetapa, Vieill., of South America, with which it is either identical or very similar.
II. GENUS ELANUS. Savigny, Nat. Hist. Egypt, I., 97. (1809.)
Bill short, compressed, hooked; wings long, pointed; tail moderate, generally emarginate; tarsi short. Contains four species only, much resembling each other; one of which is American, one African, and two Australian.
1. Elanus leucurus. (Vieill.) The Black-shouldered Hawk. The White-tailed Hawk. Milvus leucurus. Vieill., Nouv. Dict., XX. p. 563. (1818.) Falco dispar. Temm., Pl. Col., I. (Liv. 54, about 1824.) “Falco melanopterus. Daud.” Bonap., Jour. Acad. Philada., V. p. 28. “Falco dispar. Temm.” Aud., Orn. Biog., IV. p. 367.
Bonap., Am. Orn., II. pl. 11, fig. 1; Temm., Pl. col. 319; Aud., B. of Am., pl. 352, oct. ed. I. pl. 16. Gay’s Chili Orn., pl. 2.
Head above, entire under-parts, and tail, white, the middle-feathers of the latter usually tinged above with ashy, and the head posteriorly tinged with the same color, which gradually shades into a fine light-cinereous, which is the color of the upper-parts of the body, quills, and greater wing-coverts. Lesser wing-coverts glossy black, which forms a large oblong patch; inferior wing-coverts white, with a smaller black patch. Bill dark; tarsi and feet yellow.
Dimensions. Female—total length, 15½ to 17 inches; wing, 12; tail, 7½ inches. Male—smaller.
Hab. Southern States; California (Dr. Heermann); South Carolina (Prof. Gibbes); Chili (Lieut. Gillis). Spec. in Mus. Acad., Philada.
Obs. An abundant species in the Southern and South-western States. It is larger than the African E. melanopterus, with which it has been confounded, but considerably resembling it and the Australian species in form and general characters.