ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK. 87 



Missouri, and Nebraska, and on the Pacific coast as far north as Wash- 

 ington. Generally it is common as late as November and as early as 

 April in the southern portions of the northern tier of States. 



The Bough-leg is one of the most nocturnal of our hawks, and may 

 be seen in the fading twilight watching from some low perch, or beat- 

 ing with measured, noiseless flight, over its hunting ground. It fol- 

 lows two very different methods in securing its food, one by sitting on 

 some stub or low tree and watching the ground for the appearance of 

 its prey, as the Red-tail does; the other by beating back and forth 

 just above the tops of the grass or bushes, and dropping upon its 

 victim, after the manner of the Marsh Hawk. Its food consists prin- 

 cipally, if not almost exclusively, of the smaller rodents, and most 

 prominent among these are the arvicoline mice and lemmings. As is 

 well known, the meadow mice (Arvicolce) are widely distributed over 

 the north temperate zone, and often occur in immense numbers, over- 

 running certain sections of country, and doing irreparable damage to 

 crops as well as to fruit and ornamental trees. Repeatedly young 

 orchards, consisting of hundreds of trees, and representing great 

 money value, have been totally destroyed by these pests. The damage 

 is done in winter, under the snow, where the mice eat the bark from the 

 trees, often completely girdling them and causing their death. Usually 

 meadow mice are fairly common if not abundant over a large part of 

 the meadow and marsh lands of the central and northern United States 

 and temperate Canada. To show how important meadow mice are to 

 the Rough-leg as an article of food, it may be stated in general terms 

 that the southern limit of its wandering in winter is nearly coincident 

 with the southern boundary of the region inhabited by meadow mice. 

 In the north lemmings are abundant over the country in which the 

 Rough-leg makes its summer home, and furnish a never-failing supply 

 of food for old and young. 



The following statements indicate to what extent the Rough-leg feeds 

 on meadow mice: Mr. E. O. Damon, of Northampton, Mass., informs 

 the writer that he has killed hundreds of these hawks on the low 

 meadows bordering the Connecticut River, and of the many stomachs 

 he examined all contained the remains of meadow mice. He further 

 states that he never found even a frog in its stomach or saw it attack 

 anything larger than a rat or meadow mouse. Dr. Michener (in U. S. 

 Agr. Rept., 1863, p. 291) says of the Rough-leg: "The number of 

 meadow mice which this species destroys ought, one would think, to 

 insure it the protection of every husbandman." Dr. J. C. Merrill states 

 that the stomachs of those killed at Fort Klamath, Oregon, usually 

 contained field mice. (Auk, vol. v, p. 145.) Mr. A. Hail, writing of this 

 hawk in Nebraska, says: "This species is very abundant in winter, 

 and subsists entirely uponmice, frogs, and small rodents. It seldom 

 if ever preys upon birds." (Forest and Stream, vol. xx, May 10, 1883, 

 p. 284.) 



