The Ferruginous Rough-leg 



It is usually seen sailing slowly over the plains, sometimes in circles, oc- 

 casionally pouncing down obliquely upon its prey, which consists chiefly 

 of the large ground-squirrels. It usually alights upon the ground, but 

 often on trees also." 



The moving cause of the intervening slaughter was chiefly idle sport, 

 though Dr. Brewer 1 cites an instance of a more worthy, if somewhat 

 amusing, consideration: "The specimens procured by Mr. Kerr were 

 taken in the Tulare Valley, in January, 1846, and are stated in his notes 

 to have been remarkably fat, and in excellent condition generally, so that 

 some of his party shot these birds whenever opportunity offered, for the 

 mess-kettle, and considered them very good eating." 



The early writers assumed from the bird's abundance that it was a 

 California breeder, and Dr. Heermann made a specific report of a set of 

 two eggs taken from a nest in the fork of an oak on the Consumnes River. 

 Both the circumstances surrounding the nest, and the appearance of the 

 eggs themselves, which are still preserved, justify the suspicion that what 

 Dr. Heermann really found was a nest of the Swainson Hawk. In like man- 

 ner, Dr. Coues' assumptions regarding Arizona localities, especially Fort 

 Whipple, have been disproved. There is a record, 2 backed by skins, of a 

 nest found in Rush Valley in northern Idaho, May 3rd, 1859; and I am 

 inclined to think that this may prove to have been the westernmost 

 breeding station for the species. 3 Its center of abundance in the breeding 

 season is the prairie section of Dakota, Montana, and Saskatchewan; and 

 its nests are usually placed upon the ground or upon some commanding 

 pinnacle of rock. We have usually denied ourselves the right to follow 

 our winter guests "out of bounds," but I cannot forbear to quote a bit 

 of first-hand testimony from an observer in Montana: 4 "I have watched 

 the hawks often through glasses in our alfalfa field after the first crop 

 has been taken off. The pocket gophers get pretty busy tunneling and 

 pushing all the loose damp earth up in piles on the surface. The hawks 

 fly slowly over the field until they discover a fresh pile of damp earth. 

 Here they will alight softly, and wait for the gopher to push close to the 

 surface. They will then spread their wings, and rising a few feet in the 

 air come down stiff-legged into the loose earth, when the gopher is trans- 

 fixed and brought out. I have seen them eat the gopher where caught, and 

 at other times carry it away." California could afford to subsidize about 

 four million gopher traps of that type: What fools we have been! 



1 Baird, Brewer & Ridgway: "A History of North American Birds." Vol. III., p. 303. 



2 Bendire: Life Histories. Vol. I., p. 262. 



3 This in spite of a circumstantial account published by the author in "The Birds of Washington." of a set taken 

 near Chelan. April 10, 1896. The evidence in this case, justly questioned by Major Brooks, is puzzling and incon- 

 clusive. The two eggs taken resemble those of Swainson's Hawk (Buleo swainsoni), and the measurements, 62.7 

 x 46.5 and 61. 1 x 46.7, suggest the maximum of that species rather than the average 63 x 49, of Buteo ferrugineus. 

 The nest was a large one. placed midway of a sheer granite cliff 125 feet in height. The birds impressed me by their 

 large size, but they were very wary and could not. unfortunately, be secured. 



4 W. P. Sullivan, in episl. to E. S. Cameron. Auk. Vol. XXXI., April 1914, p. 166. 



I/OO 



