AMERICAN EOUGH-LEGGED HAWK 239 



winter visitant in southeastern New Hampshire. It is a 

 summer resident of the Maine coast and of some of the 

 large lakes of northern New England. Elsewhere in New 

 England it is a rare migrant, occurring in May and at 

 almost any time during the summer. It frequents bodies of 

 water at all times, feeding on the dead fish and other refuse 

 cast up on the shore. 



An old bird, with white head and tail, is unmistakable ; 

 in the brown immature plumage the eagle can be told from 

 one of the larger hawks only by its great size and by its 

 proportions. The wing is twice as long as the tail, so that 

 the whole extent of the spread wings from tip to tip is six 

 or seven times the length of the tail. 



American Kough-legged Hawk. Archibuteo lagopus 

 sanoti-johannis 



S 21.50. 9 22.50 



Ad., normal phase. — Head and neck whitish, streaked with 

 brown ; rest of upper parts brown, streaked with lighter tints ; 

 base of the tail whitish, barred with black ; lower parts dark 

 brown, spotted with white. Im., normal phase. — Similar, but 

 lower parts whitish or bufEy, streaked on the breast with brown, 

 and crossed over the belly by a broad band of deep brown. 



Both old and young have so-called melanistie phases, in which 

 they vary from deep black to forms a little darker than the 

 normal. 



The American Eough-legged Hawk is a very rare 

 migrant or winter resident in New York and New England. 

 It was formerly a common migrant through the Connecti- 

 cut Valley. " The Eough-leg is one of the most nocturnal 

 of our hawks, and may be seen in the fading twilight 

 watching from some low perch, or beating with measured 

 noiseless flight over its hunting-ground. It follows two 

 very diiferent methods in securing its food : one by sitting 

 on some stub or low tree and watching the ground for the 

 appearance of its prey, as the Red-tail does ; the other by 



