NERTUS. Boie, Isis, 1828, p. 314.
PŒCILOPTERYX. Kaup, Class., p. 112. (1844.)
Bill short, tip emarginated; wings long, pointed; tail rather short;
usually emarginated; tarsi short. Two American species constitute this
genus.
1. Ictinia mississippiensis. (Wilson.) The Mississippi Kite.
Falco mississippiensis. Wilson, Am. Orn., III. p. 80. (1811.)
Falco ophiophagus. Vieill., Nouv. Dict., XI. p. 103. (1817.)
“Ictinia plumbea. Gm.” Aud., Orn. Biog., II. p. 108.
Vieill., Gal., I. pl. 17; Wilson, Am. Orn., III. pl. 25, fig. 1; Aud.,
B. of Am. pl. 117, oct. ed. I. pl. 17.
Head, exposed ends of secondary quills, and entire under-parts,
light-cinereous, palest and nearly white on the tips of the
secondaries. Back, wing-coverts, and rump dark lead-color; primaries
and tail brownish-black, the latter with a tinge of bluish. Bill dark;
tarsi and feet lighter.
Dimensions. Total length, _female_, about 15 inches; wing, 11 to 11½;
tail, 6½ inches. _Male_—smaller.
Hab. Southern States; Texas (Mr. Audubon); South Carolina (Prof.
Gibbes). Spec. in Mus. Acad., Philada.
Obs. This bird is quite different from the South American _I. plumbea_,
for which it has been mistaken by American naturalists; in fact, it is
so little like it, that a comparison of specimens of the two species
would render a suspicion of their identity quite impossible.