BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 185 



BUTEO BOREALIS (Gmelin). (337.) 

 RED TAILED HAWK. 



This is a fairly common species that comes the nearest to 

 being permanent of any of the commoner kinds of Hawks. 

 Winter has only commenced to relax its frigid grasp upon the 

 land when, flying at its highest altitudes, there may occasion- 

 ally be seen one of these bold birds going still further north. 

 When the drifts are all there is left of the snow and hope of 

 returning spring begins to prune her wings, the number of 

 returning Red -tails muliiply, and anon, instead of all of them 

 passing over and onward, they pause in the forests and occa- 

 sionally within easy access of the farmer's barnyard. The last 

 days of February some years and not unfrequently the first of 

 March, have revealed instances of their return, but before the 

 twentieth I have seen considerable numbers of them. I am 

 satisfied that many individuals of them do not get far south 

 of the lower limits of the State to spend the rigorous portion 

 of the winter, for they are almost annually observed in the 

 border counties during each winter montli and an exceptionally 

 early opening never fails to find them here promptly. 



The nests are built early in April and along through the 

 entire spring — sometimes in March — in the forks of large 

 trees in the forests and are imposing masses of coarse sticks 

 overlaid with smaller ones and twigs, over which again are 

 spread leaves and mosses to considerable depth. It is so 

 massive and shows so little attempt at concealment, that hav- 

 ing been discovered, we see that nothing but its elevation has 

 kept us from seeing it at once when in the neighborhood of it. 

 They lay from three to four eggs of a dirty, yellowish-white, 

 with splotches of two shades of brown. 



From 1867 until about 1876 I met with seven nests in the big 

 woods within two miles of the westerly shore of Lake Minne- 

 tonka. Their elevation was so great that but for some daring 

 lads living in the section, who climbed some of the trees con 

 taining them, for me, I might have been less confident of the 

 identity of some of them in the absence of the nest builders. 

 However, in several instances the male was seen frequently. 

 One clutch of the eggs was all that I had the heart to let the 

 plucky little climbers attempt to obtain, besides their woods- 

 man fathers knew some of the objections to invading those 

 nests after the young birds were out of their shells. While an 

 occasional nest may be found in that section still they are be- 

 coming less common. 



