The Western Red-tailed Hawk 



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Taken on the Mohave Desert 



A FRIENDLY DISCUSSION' 



THE NEST IS EVIDENTLY IN THE TOP OF A JOSHUA TREE 



Photo by Pierce 



tunes of the Redtail. Once a male Prairie Falcon, whose eyrie we found 

 later, took it into his head to persecute a Redtail. He circled about 

 rapidly and hurled himself again and again at the Hawk, but each time, 

 at the expected moment of contact, the Buzzard turned deftly face up, 

 presenting his talons to the persecutor; and each time, of course, the 

 Falcon swerved short to avoid the parry. Both the birds were very 

 much in earnest, to judge from the harsh cries which escaped them at 

 the moment of "present talons"; but it was evidently an old game and 

 an idle one, too, for no matter at what range or from what angle the 

 Falcon struck, the Redtail was always ready, with a quick half- 

 somersault, to receive him. Conducted thus in the open in a fierce 

 glare of sunlight, it was surely a battle for the gods to witness — even 

 though the issue was only a draw. 



The Redtail is not afraid of the "King of Birds" either. It was 

 in the Warner Mountains, July 6, 1912. Possibly the Eagle began the 

 scrap, but if he did the Redtail took up the gauntlet with spirit and 

 alacrity. When first sighted, the Eagle, a Golden, of course, was chasing 

 the Redtail down a long air-slope. The Buteo avoided, dextrously 

 enough, and thereafter maintained a superior position from which he 

 swooped again and again at his royal nibs. The Eagle was manifestly 

 bored, even though he was always prepared, so that the near-collisions 

 were harmless; but it was a pretty sight to see the Redtail mount aloft, 



1680 



