RED-TAILED HAWK. 51 



may pass from sight in the clear space above. While thus soaring, as 

 at other times, it utters its penetrating but not unpleasant note. On 

 account of its usually sluggish flight it is unfitted to capture active 

 prey, in most cases descending on it from a perch and rarely darting after 

 it while on the wing, as is the habit of the Falcons and members of the 

 Goshawk group. When other individuals are near, or in captivity when 

 persons are present, it has the habit of covering its food from sight by 

 spreading its tail and dropping the wings, and while feeding it reaches 

 well back under the canopy thus formed, making it difficult to deter- 

 mine the character of the quarry. 



lu the East, continued persecution has made the Red-tail wary and 

 very difficult to approach except on horseback. In parts of the West, 

 however, where these birds are unmolested, their disposition is quite 

 different, and they are comparatively tame. Mr. H. W. Henshaw, 

 speaking of them at Mount Graham, Arizona, in October, says: 



"Walking quietly along, there was no difficulty in approaching with- 

 in a few yards of the tree where one chanced to perch. One individ- 

 ual wide! 1 1 scared from its perch by throwing a stone took a few broad 

 circles about me, as though wondering what it meant, and then quietly 

 returned to his former stand." (Bxplor. West of the 100th Merid., 

 Wheeler, vol. v, 1875, p. 424.) 



Like other birds of prey, the Eed-tail, when taken young, soon 

 becomes reconciled to captivity and makes a gentle and interesting pet. 

 Its fondness for water is shown by the avidity with which it both bathes 

 and drinks in the cage, as well as when free. 



During migrations this Hawk often travels in large flocks and gen- 

 erally at a great elevation. Immense numbers pass over certain sec- 

 tions, which seems to be in the line of its flight. In the Hudson Eiver 

 valley, late in September a number of years ago, the writer observed a 

 flock containing sixty-five individuals flying in a comparatively com- 

 pact body, probably not more than a few feet from each other. 



Mr. William Perham, of Tyngsboro, Mass., captured about 300 of these 

 birds during two weeks in April,. 1878 (Maynard, Birds of Eastern Forth 

 America, p. 310). In winter a few hardy individuals may occasionally 

 be found north of latitude 42°, but the great majority pass south and 

 spread over the com itry even into Florida. In suitable localities, where 

 extensive meadows and stubble fields harbor myriads of mice, these 

 Hawks congregate in considerable numbers, as shown by the fact that 

 about 175 specimens have been sent to the Department of Agriculture 

 by Messrs. Miller and Leizear from a single locality in Montgomery 

 County, Md., during the past few winters. 



The increase of any animal is always followed by a relative increase 

 of its natural enemies. This is clearly shown on the river front in the 

 vicinity of Washington, D. C, where the recent improvements have re- 

 deemed several hundred acres of ground from the tidal flats ; and already 

 in many places rank vegetation has grown up, affording shelter and sus- 



