140 THE RAPTORIAL BIRDS OF IOWA 



Measurements. Length, 22 to 24 inches ; wing, 16 to 18 inches ; 

 tail, 10 to 11 inches. 



Range. Western United States, wandering casually to Iowa, Wis- 

 consin and Illinois. 



This large hawk is conspicuously a bird of the open prairies of the 

 west and comes only occasionally into Iowa, though it is sometimes 

 taken east of the Mississippi. Dr. Elliott Coues is said to have re- 

 garded it as the "handsomest of the North American Falconidae." 

 The only specimen which I have ever seen that has been taken in 

 Iowa is in the collection of the State Teachers' College at Cedar 

 Falls. 



Several authors have referred to it as nesting near Grinnell, but 

 this record is denied by Mr. Lynds Jones, to whom Captain Bendire 

 erroneously attributed the record. (Anderson, Birds of Iowa, p. 252, 

 1907.) 



By those who have watched these birds closely, their flight when 

 soaring at a great height is described as resembling that of the Golden 

 Eagle ; and when winnowing the air a short distance above the ground 

 their flight simulates that of the Osprey. 



Their food is mostly small mammals such as ground squirrels, field 

 mice, and rabbits, and also reptiles. 



Although, because of their infrequent visits to the state they are 

 not an immediate economic factor, they probably play a part in limit- 

 ing the range of injurious rodents which, unchecked, might reach 

 our borders. 



Archibuteo ferrugineus (Lichtenstein). 



*Coues, E., Key to North American Birds, 3d Edition, p. 551, 1887. 

 *Jones, L., and Parker, H. W., in W. W. Cooke's Report on the Bird 



Migration in the Mississippi Valley, 1884-85: U. S. Department of 



Agriculture, Division of Economic Ornithology, Bull, 2, p. 117. 



(Grinnell.) 



Ridgway, R., Ornithology of Illinois, p. 481, 1889. 

 *Goss, N. S., History of the Birds of Kansas, p. 271, 1881. 

 *Kelsey, Carl, Birds of Poweshiek County, Iowa: Ornithologist and Oolo- 



gist, Vol. 16, p. 132, 1891. 



*Coues, E., Key to North American Birds, 4th Edition, p. 551, 1892. 

 Hatch, Dr. P. L., Birds of Minnesota, p. 194, 1892. 

 *Bendire, Capt. Chas., Life Histories of North American Birds, Vol. 1, 



p. 259, 1892. 



Fisher, A. K., Hawks and Owls of the U. S., p. 91, 1893. 

 Keyes, Charles Reuben, The lowan Raptores: The Iowa Ornithologist, 



Vol. 3, No. 2, p. 17, April, 1897. 



