[188] BIRDS OF OREGON 



lined with roots or shredded bark and usually placed high up in a huge tree. Often 



used for years and gradually enlarged each year. Eggs: 2. or 3, creamy white, either 



unspotted or blotched and spotted with irregular marks of yellowish and reddish 



brown. 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeds from southern Alaska and central Mackenzie south 



to Lower California and east to Great Plains. Winters from southern Canada to 



Central America. In Oregon: Common permanent resident in every part. 



THE WESTERN RED-TAILED HAWK was first found in Oregon by Lewis and 

 Clark (1814), who listed it from the mouth of the Columbia on November 

 30, 1805, and it has been reported by every observer since. It is the only 

 large Buteo found regularly in western Oregon, although some of the 

 others may occasionally straggle into that part of the State. It is equally 

 common in eastern Oregon but must share that country with the Fer- 

 ruginous Rough-legged and Swainson's Hawks in summer and with the 

 American Rough-legged Hawk in winter. In western Oregon, almost all 

 of the large hawks seen sailing on set wings in ever-widening circles are 

 this species, but in eastern Oregon careful identification is necessary. 

 The best field mark, of course, is the red tail, which is often distinctly 

 visible as the bird wheels and turns high overhead. The Red-tail has also 

 a somewhat distinctive outline and a peculiar combination of black and 

 white on the under side of the wings, but both of these characters can be 

 learned only by long-continued field observation. Like all hawks of this 

 genus, this species is quite variable in color, as it is particularly subject 

 to melanism; that is, a darkening of the plumage throughout, which in 

 extreme cases produces a dull black hawk with a red tail. The streaked 

 young (Plate 2.8) also are exceedingly variable and are sometimes affected 

 with this same darkening. 



The Red-tail begins nesting operations early, having been seen engaged 

 in repairing nests in late March and early April. Our earliest date for eggs 

 is March 15 (Wasco County); our latest, June 2.3 (Klamath County), 

 most of the fresh or nearly fresh sets having been taken in late April and 

 early May. Braly has taken many sets between March 31 and April 30 

 in eastern Oregon, and Patterson found three fresh eggs in a nest near 

 Spring Lake, Klamath County, on June 2.3, 192.9. 



Even though this hawk is largely a rodent eater, it is relentlessly 

 persecuted by farmers and sportsmen, the former because of its supposed 

 prowess as a "chicken hawk" and the latter out of the unreasoning 

 belief that exists generally that all hawks spend their lives maliciously 

 destroying game birds that should exist only for the benefit of those who 

 hunt. In Oregon, there is little evidence to support such actions and 

 much to the contrary. Three Western Red-tailed Hawks collected in 

 Wallowa County in April and May 192.8 by George Rodgers, a State 

 game warden, in the belief that the hawks were killing Hungarian 

 Partridges, quail, and pheasants, were examined by the Biological Survey, 



