NESTS AND EGGS OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 105 



weight. The nest is usually built in the branches of a tree, sometimes on 

 a ledge of rocks. It is made of sticks, hay, moss, leaves and strips of bark. 



Hab. Whole of North America South to Panama, 



433. American Goshawk — astur atricapillus. Bluish-white, some- 

 times faintly spotted with yellowish-brown; size 2. 30 by 1.90; three or 

 four in number; the eggs are said not to be distinguishable from those of 

 Cooper's Hawk only by their larger size. This large and handsome 

 Hawk is known to breed from Northern New England northward, and in 

 the mountainous regions of the west as far south as Colorado. The nest 

 is placed in trees, and said to be very bulky, composed of sticks, twigs 

 and weeds, lined with strips of bark and grass. 



Hab. Northern North America; the northern half of United States, chiefly in winter, resident in some 

 parts. 



434. Harris's Hawk — antenor unicinctus harrisi. White, with a yel- 

 lowish tinge, sometimes marked with light dashes of yellowish-brown and 

 dottings of purplish-drab; commonly two in number; the average size of 

 six eggs is 2.08 by 1.62. This bird is an inhabitant of the warmer parts 

 of America, extendiig over our Mexican border. In Texas it is common, 

 especially about the mouth of the Rio Grande. Its habits resemble those 

 of the Caracara Eagle, but it is not so active, and the nests are hardly 

 distinguishable in situation and construction. It subsists entirely on carrion, 

 and may be seen in company with the Turkey Buzzard, Black Vulture and 



Caracara Eagle. Hab. middle or northern tropical America, from the Isthmus of Panama northward. 



436. Red tailed Hawk — buteo borealis. Bluish-white, spotted and 

 blotched with brown and umber of varying shades; the eggs are generally 

 three, sometimes two or four in number; size about 2. by 2.40. The 

 Red-tailed Buzzard, in its light and dark geographical forms, is distributed 

 throughout the whole of North America. This one is abundant in the 

 Eastern portion. The nest is placed in high trees; it is large and bulky, 

 though comparatively shallov/; made of sticks and twigs, mixed together 

 with corn-husks, grass, moss, and on the inside may be found a few feathers. 

 Sometimes the deserted nest of another hawk is used. Mr. J. Parker Nor- 

 ris, in the " Ornithologist and Oologist" for January, 1886, mentions a nest 

 occupied first by the Great Horned Owl and afterwards by the Red-tailed 

 Hawk, every year; the young owls leave the nest before the hawk is ready 

 to occupy it. This large Hawk is a notorious visitor in barn-yards, and 

 though lacking much of the pluck and dash of the members of most of the 

 preceding genera it has the equally successful quality of perseverance. 

 During the summer they can be seen in pairs soaring high above the woods 

 in which their nest is built, or neighboring fields. 



