2 5 8 



The Falcon-like Birds 



sooty brown lower parts, is now regarded as the black phase of the Short- 

 tailed Hawk (B. brachyurus), which has the lower parts white. It is a resi- 

 dent of tropical America in general, but comes north occasionally to Florida, 

 where it breeds. 



The European Buzzard (B. buteo) of western Europe is said to have been 

 occasionally, though of course accidentally, found in the United States. It is 

 from twenty to twenty-two inches in length, and is usually dark brown, mottled 

 with brown of a darker shade, the tail being marked with about twelve narrow 

 bands of dusky, though it varies greatly in coloration. It is described as a bird 

 of quiet, sedentary disposition, feeding, like its American cousins, on small 

 mammals, reptiles, birds, and insects. It was once a common bird in the British 

 Islands, but has been nearly exterminated except in the wildest parts of Scotland 

 and Wales. Its nest is placed on a rocky ledge or in trees, and sometimes it 

 makes use of an old nest of some other species. The eggs are usually three in 

 number, and are white, variously spotted and blotched with reddish brown. 



Rough-legged Buzzards. Closely allied to the true Buzzards are the Rough- 

 legged Buzzards (Archibuteo), which differ in having weaker bills and feet and 

 with the tarsus densely feathered in front to the base of the toes. They are as 

 large as, or slightly larger than, the largest Buteos, and although numbering 



only four species, are widely spread over 

 both the Old and New Worlds. The Ameri- 

 can Rough-legged Hawk (A. lagopus sancti- 

 johannis) is one of the largest " as well as 

 one of the most striking of American Hawks." 

 It is about twenty-four inches long, irregu- 

 larly varied above with white, grayish, and 

 dusky, and whitish below, spotted, chiefly 

 on the breast, with dusky, but sometimes 

 nearly uniform black. It is, says Fisher, 

 " one of the most nocturnal of our Hawks, 

 and may be seen in the fading twilight 

 watching from some low perch, or beating, 

 with measured, noiseless flight, over its hunt- 

 ing ground. It follows twft very different 



methods in securing its food, one by sitting on some stub or low tree and 

 watching the ground for the appearance of its prey, as the Red-tail does; 

 the other by beating back and forth just above the tops of the grass or bushes, 

 and dropping upon its victim, after the manner of the Marsh Hawk. Its food 

 consists principally, if not almost exclusively, of the smaller rodents, and most 

 prominent among these are the arvicoline mice and lemmings." It is found 

 throughout the whole of North America, but breeds mainly to the north of the 

 United States, where Richardson speaks of it as hunting for its prey "by the sub- 

 dued daylight which illuminates even the midnight hours in the high parallels." 

 Its return from the north is forced rather by the advancing snow than by the 

 cold, which it appears well able to withstand, and in spring it begins the return 



FIG. 



82. European 

 buteo. 



Buzzard, Buteo 



