108 NESTS AND EGGS OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



brown or blackish and light brown, gray, or whitish. From the variegat- 

 ed stages the bird varies to more or less uniform blackish; but in either 

 plumage it is easily recognized by the feathered shank. The Rough- 

 legged Buzzard frequents swamps, marshes and the vicinity of lakes and 

 rivers. It appears to be more numerous near the coast than in the 

 interior east of the Mississippi. It is less active than most Hawks, and 

 approaches the Owls in the habit of hunting by twilight. Its food con- 

 sists of mice and frogs. Hab. Nonh America at large; rather northerly. 



448. Ferruginous Rough-leg — archibuteo ferrugineus. This is a 

 common Hawk in the West; its habitat is as far north as to the Saskatch- 

 ewan country, south to Texas and Mexico, and from the Plains to the 

 Pacific. The nest is placed in trees at various heights, and is very large. 

 Mr. Dille, of Greeley, Colorado, says: "One very fine set of eggs, three 

 in number, was taken April 20th. I was camping out at the time, and 

 within one hundred yards of my camp, in a large tree, was the nest of 

 this species, and I could easily watch these immense birds at their domes- 

 tic duties. They paid little attention to my presence, and were very 

 noiseless in their demonstrations when I approached the nest; this was 

 composed of large sticks, some three feet in length, lined with tufts of 

 grass and roots. It was about three feet in diameter and two in depth, 

 and situated twelve feet from the ground." Two eggs collected near Estes 

 Park, Colorado, June 3, 1885, now in the collection of J. Parker Norris, 

 measure 2.21 by 1.72, 2.10 by 1.72; they are bluish-white, faintly marked 

 with pale brownish spots. Two or three is the usual number laid ; in 

 some, the markings are scarcely visible. 



449. Golden P^agle — aouila chrysaetus canadensis. Creamy or 

 dirty-white, occasionally immaculate, but usually spotted and blotched 

 with pale reddish-brown, sometimes there is added a faint tinge of purple; 

 subspherical and equal ended. Dr. Coues gives the measurements of four 

 selected specimens as 2.65 by 2.15, 2.90 by 2.40, 3. by 2.35, 3.10 by 

 2.25, and says in twelve specimens only one is white, like a Bald Eagle's, 

 the rest are whitish, wholly indeterminatel}^ spotted, splashed and smirch- 

 ed with rich sienna and other shades of brown, with neutral-tint shell 

 markings. The eggs are two, three, and sometimes four in number. 

 This far-famed bird inhabits North America at large, but rather northerly, 

 also Europe and Asia. It breeds in mountainous or boreal regions. In 

 this country, the nest is placed on inaccessible rocks, and composed of large 

 sticks, the whole being a massive structure. The same eyrie is occupied by 

 the same pair for many years. Within the last ten years seven specimens 



