KITE,. a bird of prey associated with the buzzards in the sub-family Buteonince of the family Falconidcr, characterized by weak grasp ing-power in the feet, slender form, usually a forked tail, and long wings suited to the swift and graceful flight that distinguishes the
'
Pariah kite, is the scavenger of Hindustan. Several species of these handsome hawks in-. habit tropical America, one of which, the Everglade kite, comes to southern Florida, where it subsists exclusively on the snails (4ropullaria, etc.) that throng on the bushes in the mangrove swamps: hence it is
known as snail-hawk. The swallow-tailed kite, black with purple and blue reflections, is com monly seen in the southern United States, and is pre-eminently a bird of the air. <(It captures its prey, devours it, and drinks, while under way. Its flight possesses all the marvelous ease and grace of a swallow's." The white-tailed is a species of Texas and southward, haunting marshes rather than uplands. The Mississippi kite, however, wanders in summer all over the southerly interior, where it is generally known as the blue kite. All these are migratory. Consult Newton,