MEXICAN BLACK HAWK 259 



URUBITINGA ANTHRACINA ANTHRACINA (Lichtenstein) 

 MEXICAN BLACK HAWK 



HABITS 



From an extensive range in South and Central America this well- 

 named, coal-black hawk crosses our southern border to a limited ex- 

 tent from the Lower Rio Grande, in Texas, to southern Arizona. It 

 is much less common here than the zone-tailed, with which it might 

 be easily confused. And, like that bird, it is only a summer resident 

 in the United States. In Arizona it is found in the heavil}^ wooded 

 canyons and arroyos, watered by mountain streams, or in the river- 

 bottom forests, ahvays near water. Gerald B. Thomas (1908) says 

 that in British Honduras, where this "is by far the most abundant 

 hawk of the region", its favorite haunt is "the long stretches of sand 

 dunes and savannas studded here and there by clumps of palmetto 

 and gnarled pines." 



Nesting. — I have seen only one nest of this species. It was found 

 by my companion, Frank C. Willard, on May 19, 1922, in the mes- 

 quite forest near Tucson, Ariz. This was once a magnificent forest 

 extending for several miles along both banks of the Santa Cruz 

 River; but the Papago Indian woodchoppers had been cutting down 

 the larger trees all over it and making a network of cart roads all 

 through it. There Avere only a few large trees left, which were more 

 or less scattered, with many open spaces between them; a few very 

 large hackberry trees still remained, and there were many thickets 

 of small mesquite and thorns and some large patches of medium-sized 

 hackberry and mesquite. White-winged doves fairly swarmed 

 through the thickets, and their tiresome notes were the dominant 

 sounds, mixed with the softer notes of mourning and ground doves. 

 The forest was rich in bird life and the air was filled with their 

 music, rich-voiced cardinals and hooded orioles, mockingbirds, desert 

 wrens, Arizona vireos, Lucy's warblers, phainopeplas, and noisy Gila 

 woodpeckers. Overhead, turkey vultures soared lazily and the beau- 

 tiful Mexican goshawks glided gracefully. 



Mr. Willard had found the black hawk's nest while I was busy 

 skinning birds in camp. The birds were very tame when he first 

 climbed to the nest; the female did not fly off until he was in the 

 tree, and the male came and alighted in the next tree. But when I 

 came, armed with gun and camera, it was very different; the female 

 flew off before we came within range and the male was not seen at all. 

 I waited a long time in vain for a chance to secure one of the birds, 

 but they never came near enough for a shot. One circled within 

 binocular range so that we could positively identify it by the distinc- 

 tive tail pattern. 



