THE HAWKS, EAGLES, KITES, AND VULTURES. 207 



for grasshoppers, and from examinations of many stomachs 

 it is safe to say that each bird during the grasshopper season 

 destroys at least two hundred of the pests each day. They 

 very rarely attack poultry or birds of any kind, and unques- 

 tionably deserve the protection of the husbandman. 



Of the various birds to which the name hen-hawk is occa- 

 sionally applied it is least deserved by the Rough-legged Hawk. 

 All the evidence obtainable goes to show that this species is 

 not in any sense a hen-hawk, but that instead it is a mouse- 

 hawk, feeding almost exclusively upon meadow-mice. Forty 

 out of forty-nine stomachs examined at the United States 

 Department of Agriculture contained mice, while five of them 

 contained such small mammals as shrews, gophers, rabbits, 

 and weasels, one contained insects and a lizard, and four 

 were empty. No poultry or birds of any kind were found. 

 Similar testimony from many other sources has been pub- 

 lished ; in Massachusetts hundreds of these birds were killed 

 along the Connecticut River, and all the stomachs examined 

 contained only meadow-mice ; in Oregon, Utah, and Nebraska 

 field-mice are reported as the staple diet, while cotton-tail 

 rabbits, gophers, and other animals are also included in the 

 bill of fare. 



The rough-legged hawk is a northern bird in summer, as 

 a rule visiting the United States only in winter. It is said 

 generally to keep south of the snow line in order to capture 

 its favorite prey more easily. It hunts in the twilight, watching 

 for victims from some low perch or slowly flying over meadows 

 and marshes. It breeds in the far North. 



The typical form of the Red-shouldered Hawk is common 

 in the Eastern States and closely related races are found in 

 the South and West, though the bird is absent from the 

 Great Plains region. It breeds throughout its range, the nest 

 being built in early spring in the upper branches of some tall 

 tree, and a brood of from three to five young being reared. 

 This is a heavy, slow-flying hawk, an adept at catching mice 



