74 The Ottawa Naturalist. [October 



THE RED-TAILED HAWK IN MANITOBA. 



By Norman ("riddle, Treesbank, Man. 



The Red-tail is one of the most beautiful of our Canadian hawks 

 and in Manitoba among the semi-wooded areas, is still one of the 

 commonest. That it is still numerous is due to the fact that its more 

 secluded haunts have enabled it to escape much of the persecution to 

 which the misinformed public have subjected its close allies, the 

 Rough-legged and Swainson's hawks. 



The favourite nesting sites of the Red-tail are along the wooded 

 borders of rivers and streams, though the bird is by no means confined 

 to such places, but is found breeding over much of the semi-wooded 

 portions of the province. In general habits this hawk does not differ 

 greatly from Swainson's hawk, to which reference was made by the 

 writer in a previous volume of The Ottawa Naturalist. It is, 

 however, two or three weeks earlier in arriving from the South in 

 spring time, commences to build earlier, and is far more a bird of 

 woodlands than either Swainson's or the Rough-legged hawk. More- 

 over, it has never been found nesting upon the ground and rarely in 

 isolated trees. 



The nest of this >pecies is composed of large and small twigs, 

 well lined with the inner bark of aspen poplar, being a somewhat bulky 

 structure. There seems a general tendency, on the bird's part, to seek 

 a new nesting site each year. This, however, is not always done, some 

 birds being known to occupy the same nest for two or more years in 

 succession. The same nests have also been rebuilt and used after one 

 or more years interval. There is reason to suspect that old nests 

 would be much more frequently utilised were it not for the fact that the 

 Western Horned owl habitually takes possession of these before the 

 hawks return. Thus, the nests available for the latter depend upon 

 the number of horned owls present in the vicinity. 



The number of eggs laid by each female varies somewhat and 

 seems to depend, at least to some extent, upon the food supply. In 

 1917, the six nests under observation close to the writer's home, con- 

 tained but two eggs each and in only one of the six did the parents 

 succeed in rearing more than one young though both were hatched in 

 every instance. The first nest was discovered on May 6, containing 

 two eggs. Other nests with eggs were located as late as June 14. 

 It is difficult to account for the mortality among the young, though 

 , it is noteworthy that the deaths occurred while they were still quite 

 small, and that the latest hatched, and consequently smallest, was 

 invariably the one to die. Dead examples presented no indication of 

 violence but seemed to show that, in all probability, death was due to 



