BIRDS OF KANSAS. 269 



enough to capture a full grown one, unless it is taken bj sur- 

 prise; and the good they do largely overbalances the harm. 



Their nests are placed in trees. They vary in height from 

 fifteen to fifty feet, and are composed of sticks and lined with 

 strippings from bark, fibrous rootlets and grasses. Eggs usu- 

 ally three or four, 1.96x1.57; ground color dull white, spotted 

 and blotched with varying shades of yellowish to dark brown; 

 in form, oval to rounded oval. 



GENUS ARCHIBUTEO BREHM. 



" Similar to Buteo, but bill and feet weaker, wings longer and tarsi feath- 

 ered in front to the toes. Bill small, compressed anteriorly, but very broad 

 through the gape; upper outline of the cere ascending basally; nostril broadly 

 oval, nearly horizontal. Tarsus densely feathered in front and on the sides 

 down to the base of the toes; naked behind, where covered with irregular 

 scales. Tarsus more than twice as long as the middle toe; basal half of the 

 toes covered with small scales; outer toe longer than inner; claws long, strongly 

 curved, acute. Feathering of the head and neck normal. Wing very long; the 

 third to fourth quill longest; first shorter than seventh; outer four or five with 

 inner webs deeply emarginated. Tail moderate, rounded. Plumage full and 

 soft." 



Archibuteo lagopus sancti-johannis (GMEL.). 



AMERICAN ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK- 

 PLATE xrx. 



A winter sojourner; common. Arrive the last of November; 

 leave in March. 



B. 30, 81. R. 447. C. 525. G. 209, 126. U. 347a. 



HABITAT. The whole of North America north of Mexico; 

 breeding chiefly north of the United States. 



SP. CHAB. " Too variable in coloration of plumage to be concisely described. 

 Adult, normal plumage: Ground color of the upper parts dull umber cinereous, 

 this more rufous on the shoulders and dull white on the nape, scapulars, inner 

 secondaries and upper tail coverts; rump entirely black, feathers bordered with 

 whitish. All feathers above with central oblong or irregular spots of black, 

 this color predominating on top of head aud forming transverse bands across 

 the wing coverts and secondaries; upper tail coverts pure white, each marked 

 with an exceedingly irregular, transverse spot of black. Tail white on basal 

 two-thirds, and narrowly but sharply tipped with the same; subtermiual portion 

 pale mottled cinereous, with a very broad zone of black next the terminal white, 

 and anterior to this three narrower and more irregular bauds of the same. Pri- 

 maries blackish cinereous, with obsolete darker bands. Ground color of head 

 and lower parts dull white; cheeks thickly streaked with black; ear coverts 

 and throat more sparsely streaked; forehead and suborbital region plain whitish. 



