BIEDS. 143 



They have been found to be very common birds in summer throughout the northern portion 

 of the Territory, arriving in the vicinity of Saint Michaels and the Yukon mouth from May 12 to 

 20, and returning south from the end of August to the middle of September. They range from 

 Unalaska in the middle of the Aleutian chain north to the northern extreme of land along the 

 shores of the Arctic. A breeding female was taken on the Shumagins by Bean the middle of July. 

 Turner does not record it from the I^ear Islands. A single specimen taken by Stejneger on the 

 Commander Islands is said to be typical lagopus. 



Mr. Eidgway has already noticed the fact that not a specimen in the black phase is known 

 from the extreme northern part of its range in British America among. hundreds of skins exam- 

 ined, and I must bear similar witness concerning the large number of these birds seen or obtained 

 in various portions of Northern Alaska. 



At Unalaska Island, on May 21, 1887, a pair of these birds was found nesting on the face of 

 a high cliff. About 9 p. m., one evening in the dusky twilight, as I was passing along the beach 

 close under the cliffs, I was surprised by a long whining cry almost exactly like the mew of a 

 young kitten. It was with some difficulty that I made out the form of a hawk perched high up 

 in a niche on the cliff. Just as I caught sight of the bird it flew, uttering the same querulous cry, 

 and an ineffectual shot only served to elicit another cry, as the bird disappeared around an angle 

 of the cliff. Following the bird it was found perched in a similar niche. The bird caught sight 

 of me as I drew near, and launched out with its usual cry only to come whirling to the base of 

 the cliff with a broken wing. At this moment the same cry, with a slightly different intonation, 

 reached my ear, and glancing up I saw the head of another hawk peering from the edge of a shelf 

 close above the perch of the one I had just shot. Two shots at this head only resulted in bring- 

 ing forth the usual cry, without causing the bird to take wing, and the increasing darkness forced 

 me to secure my bird and make the best of my way back to the village. On May 24 I revisited 

 this nest with two companions, and was lowered to the nest by a rope, and secured three eggs. 

 The nest was on a narrow moss-covei'ed shelf, and the body of the structure was composed of 

 coarse stalks of weeds with a thick lining of soft grass; it was about 2 feet in diameter and had a 

 slight depression in the middle about 10 inches across. 



The eggs of this bird taken in Europe are said to vary greatly in color, shape, and size, and 

 measure 2.44 by 1.82 to 1.95 by 1.53. Its nest is sometimes found on trees, where it is constructed 

 by the birds themselves, and at other times they take possession of deserted Ospreys' nests. It 

 is found breeding commonly in Lapland and all along the northern border of the Old World. 



Archibuteo lagopu.s SAKCTi-JOHANNis (Gmel.). American Eough-legged 

 Hawk (Esk. Pito-gMh). 



ISo examples of this bird were secured by me in Northern Alaska, nor are there any specimens 

 in the National Museum collection from that portion of the Territory. Several specimens from 

 Kadiak in the melanistic phase of plumage are the only ones known from Alaska. This form is 

 found abundantly in the Hudson's Bay country, where the black phase is known to predominate. 

 They arrive in spring on the headwaters of the Anderson and Mackenzie Rivers and in the region 

 about Hudson's Bay, where they find breeding grounds. In autumn they form the rear guard of the 

 migrants passing south into the Middle States where they are winter residents. In the north it 

 nests indifferently upon trees or cliffs. During their migrations in spring and fall I have seen 

 thousands of these birds passing through Northern Illinois, both the dark and light forms asso- 

 ciating in their migration as they do in the breeding season. 



A friend of the writer's living on a farm in Northeastern Illinois amused himself one spring by 

 trapping various birds of prey as they passed north, using his empty corn-crib as a bird-house. 

 Intothis, in rapid succession, were introduced Eed-tailed, Sharp-shinned, Coopers, Broad-winged, 

 and Eough legged Hawks, with a single Horned Owl. As might be expected, the family was by no 

 means a happy one, and as my friend failed to provide a sufilcient supply of food, the owl made use 

 of his fellow-prisoners, and in a very few days the owl and a black Eough-legged Hawk — the hand- 

 somest specimen I ever saw — were the only occupants of the crib. The next act in the tragedy closed 

 with the Eough-legged Hawk perching quietly in his usual corner, while the badly used-up form ol 



