Page:Ornithological biography, or an account of the habits of the birds of the United States of America, vol 2.djvu/144



Whex, after many a severe conflict, the southern breezes, in alliance with the sun, have, as if through a generous effort, driven back for a sea- son to their desolate abode the chill blasts of the north ; when warmth and plenty are insured for a while to our happy lands ; when clouds of anxious Swallows, returning from the far south, are guiding millions of Warblers to their summer residence ; when numberless insects, cramped in their hanging shells, are impatiently waiting for the full expansion of their wings ; when the vernal flowers, so welcome to all, swell out their bursting leaflets, and the rich-leaved Magnolia opens its pure blossoms to the Humming Bird ; — then look up, and you will see the Mississippi Kite, as he comes sailing over the scene. He glances towards the earth with his fiery eye ; sweeps along, now with the gentle breeze, now against it ;: seizes here and there the high-flying giddy bug, and allays his hunger without fatigue to wing or talon. Suddenly he spies some creeping thing, that changes, like the chameleon, from vivid green to dull-brown, to escape his notice. It is the red-throated panting lizard that has made its way to the highest branch of a tree in quest of food. Casting upwards a sidelong look of fear, it remains motionless, so well does it know the prowess of the bird of prey : but its caution is vain ; it has been perceived, its fate is sealed, and the next moment it is swept away. The Mississippi Kite thus extends its migrations as high as the city of Memphis, on the noble stream whose name it bears, and along our eastern shores to the Carolinas, where it now and then breeds, feeding the while on lizards, small snakes, and beetles, and sometimes, as if for want of better employ, teaching the Carrion Crows and Buzzards to fly. At other times, congregating to the number of twenty or more, these birds are seen sweeping around some tree, catching the large locusts which abound in those countries at an early part of the season, and re- minding one of the Chimney Swallows, which are so often seen performing similar evolutions, when endeavouring to snap off the little dried twigs of which their nests are composed.