ARCHIBUTEO FERRUGINEUS, FEREUGINEOUS BUZZARD. 363 



as being particularly numerous in the low land along the Delaware and 

 Schuylkill Elvers. It winters thence northward iuto Maine at least, 

 where Prof. Verrill and others have found it common at that season. 

 It also endures the rigor of the year in parts of the Missouri region, 

 though probably not the northernmost. Prof. Snow marks it as abundant 

 in Kansas in winter, but at Fort Randall, in Southeast Dakota, I never 

 saw it until April, when a fine female was secured. This was apparently 

 a very old bird, in light-colored plumage, with very little rufous, and a 

 complete broad abdominal zone of blackish-brown. Allen found it win- 

 tering in Wyoming. 1 took a single specimen at Fort Whipple, in 

 Arizona, in tbe winter of 1865, and Dr. Kennerly observed the species 

 at Zuni, in New Mexico, in November. This brings its range almost to 

 the Mexican border. The continuous mountain-chains probably account 

 for its range in this longitude beyond that it completes on the Atlantic. 

 Dr. Cooper thinks it only a winter visitor in California, where he did 

 not observe it beyond Santa Clara Valley, but surmises it may breed in 

 the mountains of the State, as he saw it on the Columbia in July. 



Notwithstanding their size and apparent muscularity. Hawks of this 

 genus have none of the dash and spirit of the Falcons, and indeed seem 

 inferior to the Buteos in this respect. Their quarry, though diversified, 

 is always humble; they prey upon various field-mice and other very 

 small quadrupeds, lizards, and frogs, and even insects, rarely attacking 

 birds of any kind, and then only the most defenceless. Open fields, 

 especially in the vicinity of water, are their favorite resorts. They 

 appear heavy and indisposed to active exertion ; flying slowly and 

 heavily, and often remaining long motionless on their perch. They 

 show some analogy to the Owls iu points of structure, as well as in 

 their partially nocturnal habits. This has long been noticed. Sir John 

 Eichardson says : " In the softness and fullness of its plumage, its 

 feathered legs and habits, this bird bears some resemblance to the 

 Owls. It flies slowly, sits for a long time on the bough of a tree, watch- 

 ing for mice, frogs, «S:c., and is often seen sailing over swampy pieces of 

 ground, and hunting for its prey by the subdued daylight, which illum- 

 inates even the midnight hours in the high parallels of latitude." Wil- 

 son observes that it habitually courses over the meadows long after the 

 sun has set, and Audubon calls it the most nocturnal of our species. 



The nest, which I have never seen, is said to be ordinarily built of 

 sticks, &c., in a high tree ; sometimes, however, on clifls, as noted by 

 Dr. Brewer. The eggs, three or four in number, and measuring about 2^ 

 by If inches, run through the usual variations, from dull whitish, 

 scarcely or not at all marked, to drab or creamy, largely blotched 

 with different shades of brown, sometimes mixed with purplish slate 

 markings. 



AECHIBUTEO FEREUGINEUS, (Licht.) Gray. 

 « 



Ferrugincous Buzzard, or California Squirrel Ilawlt. 



Sutco fcrriifjineus, LiciiT., Tr. Berlin Acad. 1838, 428. 



Lmjopiix fcrriKjiiicun, Fijaskk, 1*. Z. S. 1H44, 3G. 



Archibiilto frrriiijiiieiiM, Gij.vv, Geii. of B. i>l. G (name A. regalia on plato) ; Hand-list, i, 

 l.scii), 10, No. «i.— CA.SS., 111. 1K')4, 104, I.'')'.*, pi. 2r>; I'r. I'liila. Acad. IH.'k), 277.— 

 Stkicki.., Oin. Hvn. lb.').'), 40.— Bkkw., N. A. Oiil. l!^.')7, :{7.— Bo., B. N. A. 18.58, 

 :?4.— Hkkkm., P.'K. K. Hop. X, inr/J, pt. vi, 3-2.— Cooi-. &- Sick., N. II. Wash. 

 Tcr. 18G0, 14U.— llAVt)., Hep. 18<)-2, l.W.— Blak., Ibis, iii, INU, 318 (Sa.skatch- 

 ewan).— Dkess., Ibis, IHi;.'), 32". (Texas).— CoiK-S I'r. Pliiia. Acad. IHGO, 46 

 (Ari/oiia; also, anatomical").— K'lncw., I'r. I'hila. Acad. 1H70, 14-2.- Coor., B. 

 Cal. i, 1^70, 482.— for KS, Ki»y, lt72, 218.— B. B. &, K., N. A. B. iii, 1874, 3U0. 



