ROUGHLEGGED HAWK. 

 Ai-fhibnteo lagopiis sancti-joliannis. 



DESCRIPTION. 



•'Adult male and I'emale: Too variable in plumage to be con- 

 cisely described. In general tlie whole plumage witli dark 

 brown or blackish and light brown, gray or whitish, the 

 lighter colors edging or barring the individual feathers; ten- 

 dency to excess of the whitish on the head, and to the forma- 

 tion of & dark abdominal zone or area, which may or may not 

 include the tibiae: usually a blackish anteorbital and max- 

 illary area. Lining of wings extensively blackish; tail usually 

 white from the base for some distance, then with light and 

 dark barring. The inner webs of the flight feathers ex- 

 tcn.sively white from the base, usually with little, if any, of 

 the dark barring so prevalent among buteonine hawks. From 

 such a light and variegated plumage as this, the bird varies 

 to more or less nearly unlfoim blackish, in which case the tail 

 is usually barred several times with white. • • Length 

 of a female, 22.00; extent, 54.00; wing, 17.50; tail, 9.00; iris light 

 brown; bill mostly blackish-blue; cere pale greenish-yellow: 

 feet dull yellow; claws blue-black. This is about an average 

 <ize; the male averages smaller.". — ^Coues' Ki-y. 



Habitat — Whole of North America north of Mexico, breed- 

 ing north of the United States. Winter resident In Pennsyl- 

 vania. 



In auy plumage this biid can easily be distinguished 

 from other of our hawks by the tarsus, which is thick- 

 ly feathered in front to the toes. I have found the 

 Rough-legged or Black Hawk in Pennsylvania only as 

 a winter sojourner, about the meadows and grass fields 

 along or near large streams. In the winter of 187!), 

 when hunting alo^ng the Brandywine creek I saw seven 

 of these hawks at oae time, perched about on trees in 

 a meadow of some five acres in extent. In this lo- 

 cality the sjiccies is usually found singly or in pairs. 

 Rough-legs generally migrate northward about the 

 middle of March; T have, however, observed them here 

 late in .\pril. 



