GAME, AQUATIC, AND RAPACIOUS BIRDS. 



27 



mice and other small mammals, snakes, and grasshoppers and other 

 insects, which as a rule must be sought on the ground. 



Cooper's hawk, which occurs throughout the United States, is pre- 

 eminently a " chicken hawk," and it is by far the most destructive 

 species we have to contend with, not because it is individually worse 

 than the goshawk, 

 but because it is so 

 much more numer- 

 ous that the aggre- 

 gate damage done 

 far exceeds that of 

 all other birds of 

 prey. It is strong 

 enough to carry 

 away a good-sized 

 chicken, grouse, or 

 cottontail rabbit. 

 It is especially 

 fond of domesti- 

 cated doves and 

 when it finds a 

 cote easy of ap- 

 proach it usually 

 takes a toll of one 

 or two a day . 

 Practically every 

 stomach of Coop- 

 er's hawk exam- 

 ined contained re- 

 mains of wild 

 birds or poultry. 

 w. L. M. 



THE ROUGH- 

 LEGGED HAWK. 



(Archibuteo lag opus 

 sancti-johannis.) 



The rough-leg- 

 ged hawk (fig. 12), 

 whose range, in 

 general terms, is 



FIG. 12. Rough-legged hawk. 



North America north of Mexico, is a representative of the class of 

 almost wholly beneficial hawks. In regard to its habits Dr. Fisher 

 says: 



The rough-leg is one of the most nocturnal of our hawks, and may be seen in the fad- 

 ing twilight watching from some low perch, or beating with measured, noiseless flight, 

 497 



