596 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



keeps more to the woods than the redtail, and is much less de- 

 structive ; his cries are shorter, shriller, and less savage, and his 

 general disposition is milder. In the spring they are especially- 

 noisy, and then several pairs 

 may sometimes be seen circling 

 together high in air, all whis- 

 tling and screaming at the same 

 time. 



Occasionally a pair will re- 

 main all winter, and during this 

 season they will keep to the 

 thickest parts of the woods and 

 loaf about open springs, feed- 

 ing on such half-dormant frogs 

 as rise to the surface of the wa- 

 ter. They never appear to suf- 

 fer from want of food, however, 

 as all those I have killed in win- 

 ter had a thick layer of fat un- 

 der the skin. 



Although the rough-legged 

 hawk is usually spoken of as 

 rare in this part of the coun- 

 try, they seem to be common 

 enough here in southeastern 

 New Hampshire, at certain sea- 

 sons at least ; and during the 

 Indian-summer weather that 

 comes just before winter sets 

 in, I can at almost any time find 

 one or more without the least trouble. Perhaps it is because they 

 are here at a season when other birds and hawks in particular 

 are most conspicuous by their absence that this species is so well 

 known ; still, there seems to be something different in their meth- 

 od of flight and ways in general. One peculiarity the rough- 

 legged hawk shares with the little sparrow hawk that of hang- 

 ing like a wind-hover in midair, head to the wind, with dangling 

 legs, his keen eyes watching the grass beneath for any sign of a 

 mouse. With a continual rolling flap of the wings he holds him- 

 self, hour after hour, over precisely the same spot. At the first 

 glimpse of a mouse he goes down with a perpendicular rush like 

 a falcon, and flounders and flaps around until he has the little 

 victim in his claws. 



Judging from my own experience I should consider this the 

 most intelligent of hawks. With the utmost caution I find it 

 almost impossible to approach within two hundred yards when I 



Ked-shouldered Hawk. 



