Identifier: birdsnature121902chic (find matches)
Title: Birds and nature
Year: 1900 (1900s)
Authors:
Subjects: Birds Natural history
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : A.W. Mumford, Publisher
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Institution Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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where it has happilysurprised the ornithologists of Europe. The legs of the Swallow-tailed Kite areso short that they are practically uselessfor locomotion and it seldom lights onthe ground. Like the marsh hawks, itobtains its food while flying close to theground; or, if its prey be an insect, itpursues it in the air. Dragon flies aredainty morsels for this graceful bird.At no time is the Kites alertnessand control of every muscle in itsbody more clearly shown than whenit is pursuing these insects. Thepeculiar zigzag and vacillating flightof the dragon fly must puzzle the keen-est vision, yet this bird will instantlychange the direction of its flight, swoop-ing downward, upward or to the side,without a moments hesitation, and some-times in order to secure the fly it is nec-essary for it to turn completely over inits evolutions. It also feeds extensive-ly on snakes and other reptiles, insectlarv.T and grasshoppers. It is very use-ful in cotton fields, which it frequents, ) L ^ ^ J nym^
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I FBOM COL. CHI. ACAD. SCIENCES.C497 SWALLOW-TAILED KITE. (Elanoides forficatus.) l^ Life-size. COPYRISHT 1902, BY A. W. MUMfOBD, feeding on the cotton worm and otherinjurious insects. The smaller snakes,however, form a large part of the Kitesdiet and they are so frequently seen withthese reptiles in their talons that in thesouth they are sometimes called SnakeHawks. So far as known, they do notcapture the smaller birds or mammials. The Swallow-tailed Kite usuallybuilds its nest in the tallest trees of v/ildlocalities, where it is quite concealed bythe foliage of the smaller branches. Thenest is often constructed with sticks andtwigs, but when obtainable, Spanish mossor the fibrous inner bark of the cotton-wood is used to make a thick and sub-stantial lining. Some observers statethat the material is collected by the fe-male, but that the male assists in the con-struction of the nest. He is certainly afaithful mate, for during the period ofincubation she seldom leaves the nestand he br

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