BIRDS OF PREY 



(348) Archibuteo ferrugineus 



iLichl.) (Lat., iron-rust). 



FERRUGINOUS ROUGH-LEG. 

 Legs feathered to the toes. Ads. — 

 Plumage as shown, tlie head, whole 

 under parts and tail being pure white; 

 top of head heavily streaked, breast 

 narrowly lined and flanks barred 

 with dusky; tail washed with rusty 

 toward the tip; back and wings 

 largely rich rusty-red, each feather 

 with a black centre; tibia and tarsus 

 rusty, barred with blackish. Im- 

 mature birds are less rufous above 

 and have few markings below. L., 

 22,50; Ex., 54.50; T., 9.75. Eggs 

 — White, handsomely blotched with 

 brownish, 2.55 x 1.95; nest some- 

 times in trees but usually on bluffs. 



Range — Western North America, 

 east to Man., N. Dak. and Kan. 



ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS are of boreal distribution 

 in summer, breeding in the northern half of Canada; they 

 are rather erratic in their occurrence in the United States, 

 but appear in greater or less numbers throughout our coun- 

 try. Although large and strong, they are sluggish in their 

 actions and are incapable of catching game birds unless 

 it be sick or wounded ones. Their food consists almost 

 entirely of small rodents, most of which they catch while 

 coursing over meadows after dusk as Marsh Hawks do. 

 Along our Massachusetts coast I have usually found them 

 feeding upon fish that were cast on the beach; doubtless they 

 also feed upon such matter about our interior ponds. 



FERRUGINOUS ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS are 

 quite common residents of the plains and prairies in the 

 interior. They rarely come east of the Mississippi and are 

 uncommon west of the Rockies. In most localities, except 

 when nesting, they are quite shy, but they may be seen 

 coursing close to the ground, ready to drop upon any small 

 mammal that happens in their path. Their food is so largely 



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