VI 

 THE RED-TAILED HAWK 



THAT chicken-hawk's got a nest somewhere down in 

 them cottonwoods; he's been round there every 

 year nigh as long as I can reniember. He's never pestered 

 any of my chickens, so I don't pester him," replied the old 

 farmer, who had taken us out behind the barn to a little 

 knoll where we could see the grove of cottonwood trees 

 and the old hawk circling above them. 



This was in the summer of 1898 while we were pass- 

 ing up the south bank of the Columbia River on a hunt- 

 ing trip. We searched the woods at the time but were 

 unable to find the aerie. A year later we happened to be 

 in that vicinity early in the springtime before the trees 

 had leaved out and made a careful search for the hawk's 

 nest. It was near the top of one of the tallest trees, 

 and one look sufficed to give us both the same opinion: 

 the nest was beyond human reach. 



The Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo borealis) is perhaps 

 the best known of the larger birds of prey throughout 

 the United States. It may be found in almost every state 

 where the woods still remain thick enough for it to find a 

 good nesting place. The Pacific Coast is a better place 

 for hawks and eagles than many of the eastern states. 

 The tall trees, the sheer cliffs along the waterways, and 

 the steep hillsides overlooking the valleys beneath, fur- 



57 



