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44 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 
“The Rough-legged Hawk seldom goes further south along our 
Atlantic Coast than the eastern portions of North Carolina; nor 
have I ever seen it west of the Alleghanies. It is a sluggish bird, 
and confines itself to the meadows and low grounds bordering the 
rivers and salt marshes along our bays and inlets. In such places, 
you may see it perched on a stake, where it remains for hours at a 
time, unless some wounded bird comes in sight, when it sails after 
it, and secures it without manifesting much swiftness of flight. It 
feeds principally on moles, mice, and other small quadrupeds, and 
never attacks a duck on the wing, although now and then it pursues 
a wounded one. When not alarmed, it usually flies low and 
sedately, and does not exhibit any of the courage and vigor so con- 
spicuous in most other hawks, suffering thousands of birds to pass 
without pursuing them. The greatest feat I have seen it perform 
was scrambling at the edge of the water to secure a lethargic 
frog. 
“They alight on trees to roost, but appear so hungry or indolent 
at all times, that they seldom retire to rest until after dusk. 
Their large eyes, indeed, seem to indicate their possession of the 
faculty of seeing at that late hour. I have frequently put up one 
that seemed watching for food at the edge of a ditch, long after 
sunset. Whenever an opportunity offer, they eat to excess, 
and, like the Turkey Buzzards and Carrion Crows, disgorge 
their food, to enable themselves to fly off. The species is more 
nocturnal in its habits than any other hawk found in the United 
States.” 
IT have never met with the nest of this bird, and know 
but little of its breeding habits. It does not breed in New 
England, or, if it does, only very rarely, preferring the more 
northern sections of the continent. Two eggs in my collec- 
tion, from Canada, are of the following description. Their 
ground-color is a dirty bluish-white, which is covered more 
or less thickly on different parts of their surface with 
obscure spots and blotches of different shades of brown- 
ish-ochre and faint-umber. They are broadly ovate in, 
form, and are 2.87 by 1.75 inch and 2.87 by 1.63 inch in 
dimensions. 
