260 LIFE HISTOKIES OF NORTH AMEEIOAN BIEDS. 



Kansas and Nebraska, northward tlu-ough the Dakotas and eastern Montana, 

 passing beyond our border through Manitoba to the Saskatchewan plains in 

 about latitude 55°. It possibly breeds very rarely in northwestern Texas, 

 and has been reported as nesting near Grinnell, Iowa, but this record is not 

 fully verified. 



Dr. Elliott Coues records it as common and resident at Fort Whipple, 

 Arizona, and on the Pacific coast it has frequently been taken in California, 

 but does not seem to breed there, and I have personally obtained it in the 

 vicinity of Walla Walla, Washington, in 1880-1882, apparently migrating 

 southward, and I believe it nests occasionally in that vicinity, as well as 

 farther north. It is seldom met with east of the Mississippi River, and does 

 not seem to breed in Minnesota, as far as known at present. In the north- 

 ern portions of its range it is a summer resident, wintering abundantly in 

 western Texas, and many passing south into Mexiso. 



This handsome Hawk, easily recognized by its large size, pale ashy- 

 colored tail, and generally light colored underparts, strongly contrasting with 

 its rufous legs, seems to be essentially a prairie bird, and while not particu- 

 larly common anywhere, is perhaps more so on the extensive prairies of the 

 Dakotas than anywhere else within our limits. In the early days, when Cali- 

 fornia was not as thickly settled as it is now, the Ferruginous Rough-leg, or the 

 California Squirrel Hawk, as it was then called, was not uncommon on the 

 extensive Tular^ Plains, as well as in the vicinity of Los Angeles, but in 

 more recent years it seems to have been but rarely noticed in these regions. 

 I have observed it in northern Nevada, southern Oregon, and Washington, 

 where it is by no means common. In the northern part of the latter State, 

 I believe, it is a summer resident, shunning the settled regions, and probably 

 breeding on the extensive dry plain in the great bend of the Columbia River, 

 and the Okinakane Valley, north of this stream. I have also met with it in 

 southern Arizona in winter, and it may possibly breed there in small numbers. 



Its flight is rather slow, but graceful nevertheless; it seems to take life 

 easy and to be but seldom in a hurry. Its food, like that of the Rough-legged 

 Hawk, consists principally of rodents of difi"erent species abounding in the 

 prairie regions which it inhabits. 



My friend Capt. B. F. Goss writes me as follows: "The Ferruginous 

 Rough-leg is not uncommon in the high broken prairie and lake regions of 

 northwestern North Dakota. In May, 1880, I took four sets of their eggs, 

 the nests being all placed on the ground, on rocky hillsides, generally near 

 large bowlders. They were constructed of bones, turf, and dry grasses, 

 usually quite bulky and rather poorly finished. Bleached buffalo skeletons 

 were scattered over the country in considerable numbers, and the ribs of 

 these had principally been used by these Hawks for the groundwork of their 

 nests. While traveling over the country, I had several times seen circles 

 of these ribs, lying on the ground, all pointing toward the center like the 

 spokes of a wheel, and I wondered at their regular arrangement. The find- 



