THE BED-TAILED HAWK. 207 



On the Atlantic seaboard it has not, according to Chamberlain, been taken 

 north of latitude 49°, but during the cruise of the U. S. Fish Commission 

 schooner Grampus, in the months of July and August, 1887, Mr. William 

 Palmer, the taxidermist of the U. S. National Museum, saw two of these birds 

 on one of the Mingan Islands in the Strait of Belle Isle, off the southern coast 

 of Labrador, which point marks, as far as known, the northern limit of its 

 range in this direction. In the interior it reaches a much higher latitude, 

 having been observed at Fort Churchhill, Hudson Bay, by Dr. Bell, near 

 latitude 59° north. 1 



The Red-tailed Hawk is one of the commonest and best known of the 

 larger Raptores, and occurs more or less abundantly throughout the eastern 

 portion of the United States. It is partial to moderately timbered districts, 

 swampy woods and the bottom lauds along water courses being its favorite 

 abiding places; but it is also found, though" less frequently, in the more 

 extensive tracts of woods on uplands and in the mountain regions. In the 

 extreme northern parts of its range it is a summer resident only, but never- 

 theless it is a hardy bird, and can readily endure great degrees of cold. It 

 usually passes south, at times in considerable flocks, during the latter part of 

 September and the month of October, while quite a number linger along our 

 northern borders until November, and not a few winter regularly north of 

 latitude 42°. 



It is one of the less active of our Raptores, generally slow and deliberate 

 in its movements, and though larger and far stronger in proportion to its size, it 

 lacks the dash and courage of Cooper's Hawk, and willingly contents itself with 

 more humble prey. It may frequently be seen sitting, for hours at a time, on a 

 dead limb of a tall tree growing at or near the outskirts of a piece of woods, 

 preferably near water, watching for its quarry. One might think them asleep 

 at such times, but they are wide enough awake, as the would-be collector would 

 soon find out should he try to get within gunshot of one. Each bird seems to 

 have its favorite perch, and this is resorted to pretty constantly from day to 

 day. They are very shy and wary, from being more or less shot at and 

 molested, and will not often allow themselves to be approached closely. 



Unfortunately the Red-tailed Hawk has a far worse reputation with the 

 average farmer than it really deserves; granting that it does capture a chicken 

 or one of the smaller game birds now and then, and this seems to be the case 

 only in winter when such food as they usually subsist on is scarce, it can be 

 readily proved that it is far more beneficial than otherwise, and really deserves 

 protection instead o f having a bounty placed on its head, as has been the case 

 in several States. 



This statement is fully borne out by the careful examination of more than 

 three hundred stomachs of this species, made by and under the direction of 

 Dr. C. Hart Merriam, chief of the Division of Economic Ornithology and 

 Mammalogy, U. S. Department of Agriculture. His report shows that the 



1 Canadian Birds, Chamberlain, p. 56. 



