Harris's hawk. 47 



HARRIS'S HAWK. 



Parabuteo unicinctus harrisi. 



Harris's Hawk is a southern species, occurring in most portions of 

 middle America and extending northward regularly to Texas and 

 Arizona. The typical form, of which our bird is a geographical race, 

 inhabits South America from Chile and the Argentine Kepublic north- 

 ward to the isthmus of Panama. Audubon's type was secured in Louisi- 

 ana, but the bird is rare in that State. 



The food of this Hawk consists largely of offal, the smaller reptiles 

 and mammals, and occasionally birds. Mr. 0. C. Nutting states that 

 a specimen obtained in Costa Eica was shot while in the act of carrying 

 off a chicken. (Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. V, 1882, p. 404). The fol- 

 lowing is what Mr. G. B. Sennett says of its food in Texas: " I found 

 in the crops of those I obtained, mice, lizards, birds, and often the 

 Mexican striped gopher (Spermophilas mexieanus), proving them active 

 hunters, instead of the sluggish birds they appeared the year before at 

 Brownsville " (Bull. U. S. Geol. and Geog. Sur. Terr., vol. v, pp. 419- 

 420). 



This species, like other Hawks of the same class, does very little dam- 

 age to poultry or beneficial birds. The nest is placed indifferently in 

 bushes among the long leaves of the Spanish bayonet (yucca) or in 

 trees to the height of 40 or 50 feet. The eggs, which are usually two or 

 three in number, are deposited in the first or second week in April and 

 the young make their appearance early in May. Both birds assist in 

 incubating the eggs as well as in securing food for the young. 



The species is not shy, and may be approached without much diffi- 

 culty. This fearlessness on the part of the bird most probably accounts 

 for the statements that it is peculiarly sluggish, whereas it is no more 

 so than the other buzzard hawks. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Space between eyes and base of upper part of bill nearly naked. 

 Inner webs of the five outside wing feathers cut out. Prevailing color 

 uniform dark sooty brown ; shoulders, under wing feathers, and thighs 

 rich chestnut; tail black, with base and broad band at tip white j 

 feathers covering base of tail white. , 



Length: 17.50 to 24 inches (445 to 610 mm ); extent 43 to 47 inches 

 (1092 to 1194 m ™); wing 12.30 to 14.50 inches (312 to 368 Ium ) ; tail 9.80 

 to 11 inches (248 to 280 mm ). 



