Birps oF PREY. 169 
It nests in high mountainous regions and north of 
the United States, and in the river valleys of the 
Middle States is seen only as a winter visitor. It is 
a beautiful hawk, but when seen sitting on a dead 
tree, or slowly flying over the river or flooded 
meadows, does not suggest that it is really a fiery, 
high-spirited, or “ noble” falcon. 
The Red-tailed Hawk, or ‘“ Hen-hawk” of the 
farmers, is too well known a bird to need minute de- 
scription. It is that fine 
old hawk that sails in 
great circles high in air 
and calls at times to its 
mate with a shrill scream 
that startles every chicken 
and causes chanticleer to 
look about and caution 
the hens. 
The hen-hawk, or red- 
tail, may be “rather inac- 
tive” sometimes, but there 
is plenty of “dash” about 
him when occasion calls 
for it. This is not dis- 
played in the prosy matter 
of procuring food, but is 
an affair of play, perhaps, 
when, almost out of sight, Redttailed tawle 
a pair of them have what 
appears through the telescope to be a rough-and- 
tumble fight. 
The migrations of these birds have often been de- 
H 15 
