532 THE BIRDS OF MANITOBA THOMPSON. 



young. So that these instances rather confirms the idea suggested by 

 Dr. Coues, that this hawk may breed twice in a season. 



As already indicated, the habits of this species are those of a Red. 

 tail which has betaken itself to a prairie life, and in consequence its nest 

 is in a lower situation and its flight less lofty, while it is also frequently 

 seen sitting on the ground. For plowed fields, in particular, it mani- 

 fests a j)artiality, perhaps because amid such surroundings it can most 

 readily see and secure the gophers which constitute its principal food. 



The nest of this bird is not peculiar. I have examined about fifty 

 altogether, and have hitherto failed to find one that answers the pub- 

 lished descriptions, which credit the bird with using a lining of hair 

 and other fine material. All the nests examined early in the season 

 were merely masses of sticks and twigs, with a slight hollow to contain 

 the eggs, and had no special lining. But nests examined after the 

 growth of the leaves — usually about the end of May — were more or less 

 lined with twigs plucked with green leaves on them, and these when 

 slightly wilted readily flatten down and form a wind- proof screen. 



In general appearance this nest is much like that of the red-tail, but 

 the position is diiferent, being usually less elevated. I have seen many 

 nests that I could reach from the ground. The favorite sites are the 

 crown of a dense willow-clump, or the highest fork of a low scrub oak ; 

 occasionally I have observed the nest at a height of 20 or even 30 feet, 

 in some poplar, but this is unusual. 



The eggs are commonly three but sometimes four in number; they are 

 more or less spherical and vary mud, in color. The young, when 

 hatched, are the purest and downiest looking of innocents, and it is only 

 on examination of the tiny though promising beak and claws that one 

 can credit that little snowball with the "makings" of a ruthless and 

 bloodthirsty marauder. 



The diet provided for them by the old ones consists of animal food 

 entirely ; about 90 per cent, of it, probably, being gophers and insects, 

 and tbe rest composed chiefly of young song and game birds. 



The name henhawk is a misnomer as far as this species is concerned. 

 All the hen lifting I have seen done in Manitoba was the work either of 

 the peregrine or the goshawk. 



August 5, 1882, near Badger Hill : On tbe way out here I got a tine buzzard ; its 

 crop was lull of grasshoppers and mosquitoes. (Wood.) 



112. Buteo latissimus. Broad-winged Hawk. 



In Ontario it is essentially the hawk of thick foliage and densest for- 

 est; very rare; summer visitant. Winnipeg: Summer resident; rare 

 (Hine). Fort Garry (Ridgway). Carberry : May 12, 1884, saw what I 

 took to be a Broad-winged Buzzard; did not collect it; have not seen 

 the species here before (Thompson). 



