BIRDS OF KANSAS. 271 



watch from a perch, often sitting motionless for hours, especially 

 where the corn is in shock, ready to pounce upon the mice that 

 venture from beneath the shocks. They are too slow to catch 

 the full-grown birds, and seldom make the attempt. They are 

 of great value to farmers and should be protected. Their nests 

 are generally placed in trees, occasionally upon cliffs; a rather 

 bulky structure, composed of dry sticks and twigs, and lined 

 with grasses or soft material at hand. In the Arctic regions 

 they are said to be warmly lined with feathers and down. Eggs 

 usually three or four, 2.21x1.75; ground color dull white to 

 buffy white, irregularly spotted and blotched with varying shades 

 of umber to sepia brown; intermingled with these are shell stains 

 of purple; in some cases the eggs are nearly unmarked, and 

 the clouding faint; in form, oval to ovate. 



ArcMbuteo ferruginous (LIGHT.). 



FERRUGINOUS ROUGH-LEG. 

 PLATE XVII. 



Resident; rare in the middle, common in the western part of 

 the State. 



B. 32. R. 448. C. 526. G. 210. 127. U. 348. 



HABITAT. Western North America; north to the Saskatche- 

 wan; south into Mexico; east into Texas and Iowa; casually to 

 Illinois. 



SP. CHAE. Bill much larger and stronger, and broader at base, the width of 

 gape (measured from corner to corner of mouth), 1.70x1.90. Adult, normal 

 phase: Upper parts generally and thighs ferruginous, the former streaked, the 

 latter barred with dusky; secondaries and quills plumbeous, the latter with a 

 hoary cast; tail white, washed with pale ashy gray, more or less stained, usually 

 longitudinally, chiefly along edges of feathers, with light rusty, and sometimes 

 crossed near tip by an indistinct subterminal bar or narrow band of dusky; lower 

 parts (except thighs) pure white, sometimes streaked with dusky. Young: 

 Above, grayish brown, the feathers edged with rusty or ochraceous; thighs white, 

 more or less spotted with dusky brownish or dusky; tail with basal third (ap- 

 proximately) white (inner webs wholly white), the rest brownish gray, usually 

 with several, more or less distinct, darker narrow bands. Melanistic phase 

 (adult): General color deep chocolate brown, more or less varied above by rusty 

 spotting and edgings; lower parts mixed rusty and chocolate, -either tint pre- 

 vailing; tail as in normal phase. (Ridgway.) 



Stretch of 

 Length. -wing. Wing; Tail. Tarsus. Bill. Cere. 



Male 22.25 53.25 16.30 9.50 3.10 1.00 .45 



Female.. 23.50 55.00 17.25 10.00 3.20 1.10 .50 



