404 THE RED-TAILED HAWK. 
twilight, while the Red-tail is most active during bright days. But if you 
would know the Red-tail certainly you must learn to notice the uniformly 
colored tail. ‘There may be one dark band near the tip, but the rest of the tail 
will be some shade of rufous or brown, without bands of any color. One 
also soon learns to see a certain majestic movement in the soaring flight, 
a more dignified wing stroke, and withal, a certain appearance of strength 
and power not manifest among the smaller hawks, particularly the smaller 
Red-shouldered. 
In spite of the fact that this 
bird sometimes visits the poultry- 
yard, and may feast daintily upon 
sparrow or pigeon, I cannot help 
admiring him. His sagacity is 
shown in the selection of a nesting 
site, which is the taller and less 
easily accessible trees, and in his 
habit of showing himself as little 
as possible in the vicinity of his 
nest, except high above it. To 
the initiated the whereabouts of 
that carefully arranged bundle of 
sticks may be guessed from the 
manner in which the high-soaring 
bird behaves. Unless the nest is 
actually threatened there is no 
demonstration of hostility, but a 
dignified, watchful indifference 
to an unwarranted meddling with 
private affairs. But once threaten 
the nest and the speck in the upper 
air descends like a bolt out cf a 
clear sky, swerving aside just at 
the point of contact and sweeping 
upward again for a renewed at- 
tack. Even the fiercest birds will 
not actually strike the human intruder, much as he may deserve punishment, 
Telephoto x 6 By the Author 
A RED-TAIL’S NEST. 
but the angry scream and the booming air beneath the half-closed wings, try 
the nerves of the bravest, while he is perched in the lofty tree-tops. 
Much abuse has been heaped upon this bird’s head, the most of it unwar- 
ranted. Careful study has proved that chickens are molested only when 
cther food is unobtainable. And when birds have been killed in the act of 
raiding the poultry-yard they have been young birds, for the most part. On 
