158 FALCONS, HAWKS, EAGLES, ETC. 



Distribution. From Southern California to Texas, 

 and south to northern South America. 



Nest. On rock cliffs or in cottonwoods near 

 streams, made of twigs lined with Spanish moss, 

 green leaves, or inner bark of the cottonwood. Eggs : 

 1 to 3, pale bluish white, mostly unspotted. 



Food. Small mammals, lizards, frogs, and fishes. 



Major Bendire states that one or two pairs of 

 the zone-tailed hawks may usually be found liv- 

 Fig. 229. Tail of Zone- j n g j n eac h of the larger cottonwood groves of 

 Arizona, but that few are ever found far from the 

 banks of streams. In southern Texas and New Mexico the hawks 

 frequent canyons, where they circle about scouring the cliffs, or, 

 mounting high in the air, dive screaming almost to the water in the 

 bottom. Their cry, which is loud and piercing, is said to resound 

 commandingly through the canyons. 



Fifty miles south of the Arizona line Mr. Price encountered a fire 

 in the marsh-lands and canebrakes which brought hundreds of the 

 zone-tails to feed on the cotton rats and other rodents driven out by 

 the heat. Some of the hawks circled high in the air over the flames, 

 while others wheeled and plunged into the dense black smoke for 

 their prey. 



Subgenus Tachytriorchis. 

 Three outer primaries cut out. 



341. Buteo albicaudatus sennetti Allen. SENNETT WHITE- 

 TAILED HAWK. 



Adult male. Pure ivhite on under parts, rump, and tail, except for black 

 subterminal tail band, the white in places lightly scored with narrow dusky 

 bars ; upper parts dull bluish gray, wing coverts marked with rufous, quills 

 blackish ; three outer quills cut out on inner web. Adult female : similar, 

 but rufous patch on wing coverts more extended, and colors generally 

 darker. Young : brownish black, shoulders marked with reddish brown ; 

 under parts marked with whitish huffy and yellowish brown ; thighs buffy 

 brown ; tail gray, darkening toward end, and becoming rusty at tip, 

 scored faintly with narrow dusky bars, becoming obsolete toward base of 

 tail. Male: wing 14.50-16.75, tail 7.50-9.00. Female: wing 17.00-17.75, 

 tail 8.25-10.30, bill .95-1.05. 



Distribution. From southern Texas and Arizona south to Mexico. 



Nest. A platform of twigs almost without lining ; placed in yucca 

 tops, chaparral, or small trees on the prairie. Eggs : 2 or 3, dingy white, 

 lightly marked with spots of pale brown. 



In driving over the treeless prairie of southern Texas day after 

 day, one of your keenest pleasures is to sight, across a long level 

 foreground, the shining white breast of a stately white-tailed hawk. 

 He stands on the ground, p'erches on a low bush, or perhaps on a 

 fence post, if anything so high offers. Strikingly handsome in re- 

 pose, when he flies up as you drive near, his white tail with its black 

 terminal band adds unique distinction to his appearance. 



