MEXICAN GOSHAWK 267 



siderable concealed white; the feathers of the back, scapulars, and 

 wing coverts are tipped, edged, or deeply notched with ''pinkish 

 cinnamon"; the tail is "fuscous" above, broadly barred with black; 

 the under parts are white or buffy white, heavily marked with club- 

 shaped spots, or streaks, of "fuscous"; the tibiae are buffy white, 

 profusely barred with dusky. I have seen birds in this plumage in 

 nearly every month from July to April, showing that it is worn 

 throughout the first year without material change except by wear 

 and fading. A complete molt between April and September appar- 

 ently produces the adult plumage. I have seen a bird just beginning 

 this molt on the back and breast on April 15 and another just start- 

 ing to molt the scapulars and wing coverts as late as September 18. 

 A bird taken June 19 was in full molt in body, wings, and tail. I 

 have seen only two molting adults, one molting its tail in June and 

 one completing its wing molt in February. 



Food. — The stomach of one of the birds I shot contained the re- 

 mains of a small snake and that of the other a lizard. Others have 

 noted among its food small rabbits, squirrels, mice, quails, young 

 doves, fishes, and beetles. Major Bendire (1892) says: "When in 

 search of food their flight is powerful, active, and easily controlled. 

 I have seen one of them dart to the ground with arrow-like swiftness 

 to pick up some bird, lizard, or rodent, continuing its flight with- 

 out any stop whatever. A good proportion of their food consists 

 of beetles, large grasshoppers (a species of which about 3 inches long 

 was especially abundant), and other insects; these are mostly caught 

 on the wing, and I believe small birds also form no inconsiderable 

 portion of their food, as I have seen them chasing such." 



Col. A. J. Grayson, as quoted bj^ George N. Lawrence (1874), 

 says in his notes : 



Although its flight is vigorous and quick, and the feet and claws sharp and 

 strong, yet its prey consists of the more humble and weaker creatures of the 

 woods and field, such as lizards, small snakes, field mice, etc. These are indeed 

 his staff of life. But in the general breeding season of birds, when the young 

 are not fully fledged, and are just beginning to try their tender wings from 

 the parent nest, it is then it finds opportunities to change its usual diet of 

 lizards and snakes, to the more tender young birds of any species that may 

 come in his way. He often visits the poultry of the natives and carries off 

 young chickens; will follow the Chachalaca (or wild tree chicken) and her 

 young brood through the densest woods, in his skulking way, until an oppor- 

 tunity offers to pounce upon one of them, thus keeping the mother constantly 

 on the alert; she will defend her brood with great courage when he makes the 

 attack, but he is often too quick for her vigilance, and carries off one at a time 

 from day to day, until her precious chicks are mostly all devoured by the sly 

 manoeuvering of this hawk. 



Behavior. — To me its flight seemed swift, active, and graceful, 

 more like that of an Accipiter than a Buteo. It must be very swift 



