202 LIFE HISTORIES OP NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



Nidification begins early, usually about the latter part of March or the 

 beginning of April, long before the snow has disappeared from the moun- 

 tains and while the hillsides are still saturated with moisture, making it 

 anything but easy work to look for their nests. These are usually built in 

 tall trees, and no particular preference seems to be shown in their selection. 

 The nests are mostly placed close to the trunk and generally well hidden 

 from view. Occasionally one is placed some distance out, or between the 

 forks of one of the larger limbs, and on that account can be more readily 

 seen. I believe each pair of birds has its regular hunting range, from which 

 all other species of Raptores are driven off. At any rate I never found the 

 Western Red-tailed or Swainson's Hawks, the most common kinds found, 

 breeding in the vicinity of a pair of Goshawks. 



The eggs are from three to five in number and indistinguishable from 

 those of the eastern bird. I believe but one brood is raised in a season, 

 and do not know whether the male assists in incubation. 



The eggs in the U. S. National Museum collection, nine in number, 

 average a trifle larger than those of the preceding subspecies, the mean being 

 60 by 45.5 millimetres. The largest specimen measures 65.5 by 49.5, the 

 smallest 55 by 44 millimetres. One of these eggs shows some peculiar dis- 

 colorations .of the shell, which are not stains, neither are they spots; and 

 another has very minute and scarcely perceptible markings of pale, rusty 

 brown near the smaller end. 



The type specimen (No. 20696, PI. 6, Fig. 2), selected from a set of five, 

 from the Beiidire collection, was taken by the writer near the Umatilla Indian 

 Agency, Oregon, April 17, 1881. 



69. Parabuteo unicinctus harrisi (AUDUBON). 

 HARRIS'S HAWK. 



Falco harrisi, AUDUBON, Birds of America, v, 1839, 30, PI. 392. 



Parabuteo unicinctus' -var. harrisi RIDGWAY, in History of North American Birds, 

 III, January, 1874, 254. 



(B 46, C 348, R 434, C 512, U 335.) 



GEOGRAPHICAL RANGE : Middle America; north to southern border of United 

 States (Louisiana to southern Arizona), Lower California. 



The breeding range of Harris's Hawk within the borders of the United 

 States is rather restricted, it being found only along our southern frontier 

 from southern and southwestern Texas to southern Arizona and Lower Cali- 

 fornia. It is said to occur also occasionally in Louisiana, but it is doubtful 

 if it breeds there. It extends through Mexico to Central America. 



Within the United States it is most abundant in southern and southwestern 

 Texas, where it is a resident and where it breeds commonly. 



According to Mr. G. B. Sennett, "it is a resident on the Lower Rio 

 Grande, and more abundant than any other of the family. I found in the 



