59 6 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



keeps more to the woods than the red tail, and is much less de- 

 structive ; his cries are shorter, shriller, and less savage, and his 

 general disposition is milder. In the spring they are especially 



noisy, and then several pairs 

 may sometimes be seen circling 

 together high in air, all whis- 

 tling and screaming at the same 

 time. 



Occasionally a pair will re- 

 main all winter, and during this 

 season they will keep to the 

 thickest parts of the woods and 

 loaf about open springs, feed- 

 ing on such half-dormant frogs 

 as rise to the surface of the wa- 

 ter. They never appear to suf- 

 fer from want of food, however, 

 as all those I have killed in win- 

 ter had a thick layer of fat un- 

 der the skin. 



Although the rough- legged 

 hawk is usually spoken of as 

 rare in this part of the coun- 

 try, they seem to be common 

 enough here in southeastern 

 New Hampshire, at certain sea- 

 sons at least; and during the 

 Indian-summer weather that 

 comes just before winter sets 

 in, I can at almost any time find 

 one or more without the least trouble. Perhaps it is because they 

 are here at a season when other birds and hawks in particular 

 are most conspicuous by their absence that this species is so well 

 known ; still, there seems to be something different in their meth- 

 od of flight and ways in general. One peculiarity the rough- 

 legged hawk shares with the little sparrow hawk that of hang- 

 ing like a wind-hover in midair, head to the wind, with dangling 

 legs, his keen eyes watching the grass beneath for any sign of a 

 mouse. With a continual rolling flap of the wings he holds him- 

 self, hour after hour, over precisely the same spot. At the first 

 glimpse of a mouse he goes down with a perpendicular rush like 

 a falcon, and flounders and flaps around until he has the little 

 victim in his claws. 



Judging from my own experience I should consider this the 

 most intelligent of hawks. With the utmost caution I find it 

 almost impossible to approach within two hundred yards when I 



RED-SHOULDERED HAWK. 



