BIRDS OF KANSAS 



111 



These birds as a whole are very beneficial, though occa- 

 sionally killing a stray chicken, but seldom venturing 

 within the dooryard; and they have not the courage to 

 tackle a full grown fowl— at least I have never known 

 them to do so, and I have often seen a hen drive them 

 away from her chicks. 



Their nests are placed on the ground, in the grass, 

 sometimes under low bushes, and usually on the bottom 

 prairie lands ; a slight structure, made usually of grasses ; 

 sometimes, on boggy grounds, with a foundation of sticks 

 and weeds. Eggs four to six, 1.86x1.42; bluish white, 

 generally unspotted, but occasionally with faint to dis- 

 tinct spots and blotches of purplish brown; in form, 

 broadly oval. 



XXXIV.— KED-TAILED HAWK. 



Buteo horealis (Gmel.). 

 Kesident; common. Begin laying the last of February. 

 Habitat. Eastern I^orth America ; west to the Great 



Plains. 



Iris of adult brown, of young yellowish ; bill horn blue ; 

 cere greenish yellow; legs and feet light yellow; claws 

 bluish black. 



This large, muscular Hawk is rather evenly distributed 

 throughout its range in the United Sates, and northward. 

 In habits it is rather sluggish, feeding chiefly upon rabbits, 

 mice and moles, which it occasionally swoops down upon 

 from the air, but generally from a perch, where it patiently 

 watches for its prey. It now and then drops upon a Duck, 

 Bob-white, or stray fowl from the yard, but is not quick 

 enough to catch the smaller birds, and never gives chase 



