100 General Notes. [f^ 



Steve Whitey of Crookston, Minn. — J. W. Franzen, Minnesota Academy 

 of Sciences, Minneapolis, Minn. 



Audubon's Caracara in New Mexico. — On May 4, 1914, Mr. Andrew 

 Archer brought to my office a specimen of Audubon's Caracara (Polyborus 

 cheriway) that had been shot by Mr. Harold Church from a cottonwood 

 tree standing in an alfalfa field near Mesquite, N. M., below Las Cruces in 

 the Rio Grande Valley. This specimen was an immature male not yet in 

 typical color. In the stomach were found the almost completely digested 

 remains of a small bird and a small rodent, whose identification could not 

 be determined. The skin is now in the collection of the New Mexico 

 College of Agriculture, at State College, N. M. 



This constitutes the second established record of the occurrence of this 

 species near here. Mr. E. W. Nelson, of the U. S. Biological Survey, 

 kindly gave me the following note on its occurrence. " There is but a 

 single other record, so far as we know, of this bird's occurrence in the State. 

 This was one taken by Dr. Henry at Ft. Thorne in the winter of 1856 and 

 sent to the U. S. National Museum." — D. E. Merrill, State College, 

 N. M. 



Actions of the Red-tailed Hawk.— In ' The Auk ' for 1913 (page 582) 

 I described the very active defense of her nest offered by a Red-shouldered 

 Hawk (Buteb lineatus lineatus). It may be recalled that two sets of 

 eggs, April 6, and April 29, 1913, were collected from this pair of birds. I 

 was then especially anxious to observe the birds the next year, and early 

 in April I visited the Sawyer woods for this purpose. The birds flew from 

 trees on the east side of the woods from which direction I was approaching. 

 They were very noisy but flew high and no nests which seemed to be re- 

 cently occupied were seen. On April 23 I again visited the woods approach- 

 ing from the east, near the southern edge. Both birds met me at the edge 

 of the woods and flew about with noisy screaming at some elevation as I 

 walked westward. At the west side of the woods I turned and walked in a 

 northeastly direction directly towards the beech tree in which the first set 

 of eggs were taken in 1913. The female was in a tree top near this beech 

 and when I was possibly 200 feet away she launched herself directly at me. 

 I could hardly conceive she would attack me as I stood on the ground, but 

 she came straight on and I had to chop to my knees to avoid her blow. 

 She alighted west of me and I walked on toward the nest, watching her 

 over my shoulder. I had hardly stepped forward when she again dashed 

 to the attack with more fierceness possibly than before and I again was 

 compelled to drop to my knees. She came to rest about 30 feet from me 

 in a small maple where she rested in a threatening attitude for some time 

 while I stood admiring her. Her plumage was perfect, her breast being 

 almost red, and her attitude of fearless defiancy as she stood leaning toward 

 me made a picture impossible to forget. She made no further attacks till 

 I began climbing the tree when she struck at me viciously four times. 



