206 NESTS AND EGGS OF 



habits, nesting, eggs, etc., tlie same as those ol atrlcapillux. Average size of eggs 

 2.36x1.75. 



335. HARRIS'S HAWK, farabuteo uiiiciuctus harrisl (Aud.) Geog. Dist.— 

 Southern border of the United States; Mississippi, Texas, Arizona, southward to 

 Panama. 



This bird is an inhabitant of the warmer parts of America, extending its range 

 over our Mexican border. In Texas it is common, especially about the mouth of tlie 

 Rio Grande. Its habits resemble those of the Caracara Eagle, but it is not so active, 

 and the nests are hardly distinguishable in situation and construction. It is said, by 

 . some observers, to subsist entirely on carrion, and may be seen in company with tlie 

 Turliey Buzzard, Black Vulture and Caracara Eagle. Mr. Sennett found this species 

 to be the most abundant of any other of the family on the Lower Rio Grande in 

 Texas. In their crops he found mice, lizards, birds and often the Mexican striped 

 gopher, indicating that they were active hunters instead of sluggish birds. The 

 eggs are white, with a yellowish tinge, sometimes marked with light dashes of yel- 

 lowish-brown and dottings of purplish drab; commonly two or three in number, 

 rarely four. Four sets of these eggs are in the cabinet of Mr. J. Parker Norris, and 

 show considerable variation in size and shape. One set of three taken near Corpus 

 Christi, Texas, May 10, 1886, is entirely dull white; sizes, 2.19x1.61, 2.13x1.63, 2.14x 

 1.58; another of two eggs taken in Cameron county, Texas, May 25, 1886, measure 

 2.08x1.65, 2.19x1.71; a set of three eggs from the same place, collected April 25, 

 measure 2.00x1.65, 2.06x1.65, 2.13x1.69; one of the eggs of this set has a few faint 

 cinnamon spots; the fourth set taken in Cameron county, Texas, May 3, 1886; two 

 of these are faintly marked with lavender, but the third is distinctly spotted at the 

 large end with cinnamon; sizes, 2.14x1.65, 1.94x1.61, 1.99x1.57. 



[336.] EUROPEAN BUZZARD. Buteo buteo (Linn.) Geog. Dist.— Northern 

 portions of the Eastern Hemisphere. Accidental in Michigan. 



The older ornithologists were doubtless mistaken in the identification of the 

 specimens obtained in this country, which they described and figured as Buteo 

 rul'ffaris of EMirope. This Hawk has been entirely excluded from our fauna by more 

 recent authorities, and it is admitted only on the grounds of a single specimen taken 

 near Paw Paw, Michigan, by J. D. Allen, and received in the skin by Mr. C. J. 

 Maynard in the autumn of 1873. The bird is quite common in England, frequenting 

 the more cultivated portions, as well as the very wildest parts of Scotland and tracts 

 of Alpine forests, where its favorite breeding place is on the edges of ravines. The 

 nest is placed in some large tree or on a ledge of rock, and is built of sticks with a 

 scanty lining of wool and hair. The eggs are two or four in number, generally three, 

 of ap oval form, bluish-white, with pale brown blotches and spots of yellowish- 

 brown, chiefiy at the larger end. A set of three eggs in my cabinet, from England, 

 measure 2.30x1.75. 2.28x1.72, 2.30x1.68. 



337. RED-TAILED HAWK. Buteo horealis (Gmel.) Geog. Dist.— Eastern 

 portions of North America, west to the Great Plains. 



The Red-tailed Buzzard, in its light and dark geographical races, is distributed 

 throughout the whole of North America. This species is abundant in the eastern 

 portion. A large Hawk and a notorious visitor to barn-yards, though lacking much 

 of the pluck and dash of the members of some of the preceding genera it has the 

 equally successful quality of perseverance. The food of this species is chiefly small' 



