The text that accompanied the plate in the final bound volume was not published until December 1823,[3] after the species had been described and illustrated in 1822 by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot.

The specific epithet riocourii honours the Count Rioucour, Antoine François du Bois "first president in the Royal Court of Nancy, and possessor of a beautiful collection of birds".

[13] The species inhabits the arid savannah of the Sahel region of Africa, occurring mainly in a band between 8° and 15° N that stretches from Senegal on the west coast to Sudan in the east.

[14]" It is found in many countries, including: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Ivory Coast, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Somalia, Sudan, Togo, Uganda, and is also found in Yemen.

[14] When breeding the scissor-tailed kite feeds mainly on skinks and other lizards, as well as small snakes, rodents and arthropods.

Loose flocks have been known to associate with cattle, flying immediately overhead and hawking any insects that they flush.