BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 89 



Nuttall remarks that this Hawk lives principally on frogs, and 

 probably insects and cray-fish in the winter. Gentry tells us the food 

 consists of small quadrupeds and small birds generally, reptiles and 

 many insects, and that the food of the young consists of fragments of 

 quadrupeds, besides an immense number of young grasshoppers and 

 beetles. 



In my examinations of fifty-seven of these Hawks which have been 

 captured in Pennsylvania, forty-three showed field-mice, some few 

 other small quadrupeds, grasshoppers and insects, mostly beetles; 

 nine revealed frogs and insects ; two, small birds, remains of small 

 mammals and a few beetles ; two, snakes and portions of frogs. The 

 gizzard of one bird contained a few hairs of a field-mouse and some 

 long black hairs which appeared very much like that of a skunk. The 

 bird on dissection gave a very decided odor of pole-cat. In two of these 

 Hawks, shot in Florida, I found in one portions of a* small catfish, and 

 in the other remains of a small mammal and some few coleopterous 

 insects 



343. Buteo latissimus (WiLS.). 



Broad-winged Hawk. 



DESCRIPTION. (Plate 16, Fig. I.) 



Adult. Entire upper parts umber-brown ; feathers on the occiput and back of the 

 neck white at their bases ; throat white, with longitudinal lines of brown and with 

 a patch of brown on each side running from the base of the lower mandible ; breast 

 with a wide band composed of large cordate and sagittate spots and transverse bands 

 of reddish-ferruginous tinged with ashy ; other under parts white, with numerous 

 sagittate spots of reddish on the flanks, abdomen and tibiaB. In some specimens, the 

 ferruginous color predominates on all the under parts, except the under tail coverts, 

 and all the feathers have large circular or ovate spots of white on both edges ; under 

 tail coverts white ; quills brownish-black, widely bordered with white on their in- 

 ner webs ; tail dark-brown, narrowly tipped with white, and with one wide band of 

 white and several narrower bands near the base ; bill, dartt ; feet, yellow ; iris, 

 brown. 



Young, Upper parts dull umber-brown, many feathers edged with fulvous and 

 ashy-white ; upper tail coverts spotted with white, under parts white, generally 

 tinged with yellowish, and having longitudinal stripes and oblong and lanceolate 

 spots of brownish-black ; a stripe of dark-brown on each side of the neck from the 

 base of the under mandible ; tail brown, with several bands of a darker shade of the 

 same color, and ofw r hite on the inner webs, and narrowly tipped with white ; length 

 of male about 14 inches ; extent of wings about 32 ; tail about 7 inches ; female, 

 length about 17 inches, extent about 38 ; tail about 1\ inches. 



Hab. Eastern North America, from New Brunswick and the Saskatchewan re- 

 gion to Texas and Mexico, and thence southward to Central America, northern 

 South America, and the West Indies. 



Of the genus Buteo, in this section, the Broad winged is the least 

 abundant. It is a native and resident. The movements in the air of 

 this Hawk are easy and beautifully graceful. When in quest of food, 

 its flight is in circles. At times, when circling, like the Sparrow 

 Hawk, it will stand for an instant beating the air, and then descend 



