14 Bird Day Book 



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RED-TAILED HAWK 



HIS bird is about two feet in length, and is one of our largest 

 hawks. The adults have the tail reddish brown, hence its 

 name. They breed in the United States, Mexico, Costa 

 Rica, Canada and Alaska, and winter generally in the United 

 States and south to Guatemala. 



The red-tailed hawk, or "hen-hawk," as it is commonly called, 

 is one of the best known of all our birds of prey, and is a widely 

 distributed species of great economic importance. Its habit of sit- 

 ting on some prominent limb or pole in the open, or flying with 

 measured wing beat over prairies and sparsely wooden areas on the 

 lookout for its favorite prey, causes it to be noticed by the most 

 indifferent observer. Although not an omnivorous as the red-shoul- 

 dered hawk, it feeds on a variety of food, as small mammals, snakes, 

 frogs, insects, birds, crawfish, centipedes and even carrion. In 

 regions where rattlesnakes abound it destroys considerable numbers 

 of the reptiles. Although it feeds to a certain extent on poultry 

 and birds, it is nevertheless entitled to general protection on account 

 of the insistent warfare it wages against field mice and other small 

 rodents and insects that are so destructive to young orchards, nurs- 

 ery stock and farm produce. Out of 530 stomachs examined, 457, 

 or 85 per cent, contained the remains of mammal pests, such as field 

 mice, pine mice, rabbits, several species of ground squirrels, pocket 

 gophers and cotton rats, and only 62 contained the remains of poul- 

 try or game birds. 



— Biological Survey Bulletin. 



