Across the Fields. 279 



black, grayish, and white, either of which colors may predominate. It is 

 generally banded narrowly near the end with black, and tipped with whitish. 

 The lower parts vary from pure white to dusky or sooty brown. 



This is the Western race of the common Red-tailed Hawk. The birds 

 vary from a light phase of plumage, difficult to distinguish from the true Red- 

 Western Red-tail ta ^ e< ^ Hawk, to a uniform dark or sooty brown, except 

 Buteo boreaiis caiurus the tail, which is like that of the ordinary Red-tail. There 

 is every possible gradation between these two extremes. 

 This form occupies the whole of Western North America, east to the Rocky 

 Mountains, and south into Mexico. It has been recorded as a straggler in 

 Illinois. In Arizona I have found these birds breeding at isolated points, on 

 the desert in low mesquite trees, and in the giant cactus. Frequently the 

 nests are so near the ground that a man of ordinary height may look into them. 



The European Buzzard is about twenty inches long. In adult birds the 



upper parts are usually dark brown, mottled with a darker shade of the same 



color. The tail is grayish brown, marked with about 



uropean uzzar . twe j ve transverse narrow bands of dusky brown or black- 



Buteo buteo (Linn.). t Tt. 7/ ^i i , , 



ish. 1 he eyes are yellow. 1 he lower parts are dusky 

 mottled brown on the breast and throat, becoming lighter and generally 

 heavily barred on the belly, sides, and flanks. 



It has much the habits of our common Red-tailed Hawk, but the preju- 

 dice existing in regard to that bird has obtained against this, even more 

 strongly, and it is almost exterminated in England, where it was once a com- 

 mon and very useful bird. It is included here as an accidental straggler to 

 North America, there being a record from the State of Michigan, which 

 seems open to doubt. 



The Mississippi Kite, or Hawk, is a rather small, compactly built bird, 



about fifteen inches long. In general, the tone of the adult birds is plum- 



...... j., beous or bluish slate color throughout, lightest on the 



ictinia mississippiensis* head and neck. The wings and tail are dusky, the latter 



cwiis.). unmarked and the larger feathers of the former spotted 



with chestnut brown, more distinctly on their inner webs. The exposed parts 



