278 BULLETIN 16 7, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Once I saw a herring gull soar in close proximity for a few seconds to 

 a soaring roiighleg, which paid no attention to it. 



On a January day at Ipswich I watched a roughleg perched in the 

 top of a hickory tree near my house, a bird that seemed determined 

 to clean its feathers thoroughly and rid them of all insect pests. 

 From 8 : 30 to 10 : 30 a. m. it preened itself without intermission. 



Francis H. Allen contributes the following notes: 



One alighted in a willow on Great Neck, Ipswich, Mass., on November 11, 

 1929, in the middle of the tree, not on the top or in a commanding situation, 

 and assumed an almost horizontal position. This seemed to be for resting, as 

 the bird did not appear to be watching for prey. 



On February 23, 1931, at Ipswich, I put up a bird in the dark i)hase at a 

 distance of about 20 yards on a bushy hillside. It rose in the air and hung 

 suspended against the northwest wind, adjusting itself by turning its partly 

 closed tail, rotating it on a longitudinal axis, gaining considerable altitude in 

 this way, and gradually moving off toward the southwest into the sun, where 

 I finally lost sight of it. 



Voice. — There is considerable variation in the notes of this hawk, 

 whicli are often very loud. Those heard in spring where two birds 

 circle around together, Avhich I think are in the nature of a courtship 

 song, I have described as a whistling, at first soft and musical and 

 somewhat plaintive, the last part a hissing suggestive of the whistle 

 of the red-tailed hawk but lacking the sound of escaping steam. 

 Lucien M. Turner in his Labrador notes says : "The Eskimo apply 

 the name km wi ynk (in imitation of its note) to this species. The 

 residents of Labrador term it the 'squalling hawk' from the noise it 

 makes when the bird is alarmed." 



Harrison F. Lewis (1927) relates of southern Labrador that— 

 "during an afternoon spent on July 5 in the very rough country 

 north of Bradore Bay, where suitable cliffs 50 to 100 feet high 

 abound, I saw at least six pairs of these hawks and v.'as almost never 

 without one or two following me about and uttering loud protests." 

 They "screeched loudly at me while I remained in their chosen lo- 

 cality." At Devils Mountain, near the Natashquan River about 70 

 miles above its mouth, I once watched a fine dark roughleg sail 

 around the cliffs, where it was greeted by a salute of whistles from 

 its young or its mate in some unseen aerie. Henniger and Jones 

 (1909) described the voice thus: "Kle Kle Kle Kle Kle — Ree hee." 



Sheldon (1912), writing of the European form, speaks of its cries 

 as "mewing", and states that the mew of the female was in a "dis- 

 tinctly higher key than that of the male." 



Field marks. — The large size of this hawk, with the broad but long 

 A\ings and comparatively short tail — Buteo characteristics — at once 

 attracts attention. Seen from above, as it wheels in flight, the white 

 rump and base of the tail are sometimes very prominent, while seen 



