Descriptive List 169 



The Broad-winged Hawk, the smallest of our North Carolina buteos, is only 

 known as a summer resident in North Carolina. At Raleigh it arrives about the 

 first week in April, and, being a woodland bird of retiring habits, would hardly be 

 noticed were it not for its peculiar, long-drawn whistle, quite unlike the screams 

 uttered by other hawks. 



Five sets of eggs of this species have been taken in Wake County, three being 

 from the same nest, which the birds repaired and used in successive years, viz., 

 1890, 1891, and 1895. The other two sets were also taken in 1895. The date of 

 these ranged from April 25, in 1890, to May 22, in 1895. The number of eggs 

 was two in four cases and three in the fifth. A set was taken by Cairns in Bun- 

 combe County on April 25, 1890, which chanced to be the same day on which H. H. 

 Brimley took his first set at Raleigh. All the Raleigh nests were in pines; the 

 Buncombe nest was in an oak. 



Fig. 128. Bkoad-winged Hawk. 



Pearson records a female taken in Orange County, April 15, 1899 {Catalogue 

 of the Birds of Chapel Hill, page 39) . 



The nest is rather large and is loosely constructed of sticks, lined with flat scales 

 of bark, and a few leafy twigs of pine or oak. It is invariably placed in the crotch 

 of a large tree. The eggs are dull grayish white in ground color, spotted or blotched 

 \vith brown, or with faint grayish or lavender shell-markings, or both; shape, a 

 short ovate, size 1.90 x 1.55. 



The Broad-winged Hawk is distinctly beneficial, feeding on small mammals, such 

 as mice and shrews; also on small reptiles, frogs, and the larvse of large moths. 

 They are seldom, if ever, known to destroy bird-hfe. 



Genus Archibuteo (Brehm) 

 153. Archibuteo lagcpus sancti-johannis [GmeL). Rough-legged Hawk. 



Description. — Chiefly whitish, streiikod witli rusty, but varying from this into a form where 

 the plumage is entirely black. L., 22.50; W., 16.00;" T., 9.50. 



Range. — North America north of Mexico, breeding far northward. 

 Range in North Carolina. — Rare transient in the mountains. 



