276 



Bird Studies. 



but oftener washed or spotted with varying shades of brown. They are 

 about two inches and a fifth long and an inch and three quarters broad. 



ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK. FEATHERING ON FOOT. 



The Mexican Goshawk is about seventeen inches long, and robustly built. 



Above the birds are deep bluish ash color, the top of the head and the back 



of the neck showing blackish or dusky streaks along the 



Mexican Goshawk, ^j^^j^ ^f ^^^j^ feather. The tail is black, with a narrow 



Astunna plagiata Schlcgel. . . ^ . 



white tip, and barred by two or more bands ot the same 

 color. The feathers covering the base of the tail above and below are white. 

 The rest of the under parts are white barred with deep ash. The birds nest 

 on high trees, building much after the manner of Cooper's Hawk. The eggs 

 are two or three in number, white in color, very faintly marked with pale red- 

 dish brown. They are about two inches long and an inch and three fifths in 

 their other diameter. 



The birds are southern in their distribution, ranging from Panama 

 through Mexico and into our southern border, Arizona, etc. There is a single 

 record of their occurrence in Southern Illinois. 



Swainson's Hawk is another of the stout, heavy, " mouse " hunting birds 

 of medium size, being about twenty inches long. It is a common bird of 



