Sir John Richardson says, "In the soft- 

 ness and fullness of its plumage, its feath- 

 ered legs and habits, this bird bears some 

 resemblance to the owls. It flies slowly, 

 sits for a long time on the bough of a 

 tree, watching for mice, frogs, etc., and 

 is often seen sailing over swampy pieces 

 of ground, and hunting for its prey by 

 the subdued daylight, which illuminates 

 even the midnight hours in the high par- 

 allels of latitude.'' Mr. Ridgway says, 

 "for noble presence and piercing eye this 

 bird has few equals among our Falcon- 

 idae." 



The eggs of this species vary from two 

 to five and are usually somewhat blotch- 

 ed or irregularly marked with chocolate 

 brown on a dull white background. 



The Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo borealis) 

 of our illustration is young and shows 

 the plumage of the immature form. 



This species may be called our winter 

 hawk and for this reason the name bo- 

 realis is most appropriate. "The coldest 

 days of January serve to give this hawk 

 a keener eye and a deeper zest for the 

 chase." The best locality to seek the 

 Red-tail may be found at the wooded 

 borders of pastures and streams, where 

 it can easily perceive and swoop down 

 upon its prey. It seldom visits a barn- 

 yard, but will occasionally catch a fowl 

 that has strayed away from the protec- 

 tion of buildings. Its food consists to a 

 great extent of meadow and other species 

 of mice, rabbits and other rodents. The 

 remains of toads, frogs and snakes have 

 also been found in its stomach. One 

 writer says, "The Red-tailed Hawk is 

 a powerful bird and I once saw one 

 strike a full-grown muskrat, which it tore 

 to pieces and devoured the greater part." 



Dr. Fisher gives an interesting sum- 

 mary of the examination of five hundred 

 and sixty-two stomachs. Fifty-four con- 

 tained poultry or game birds ; fifty-one, 



other birds ; two hundred and seventy- 

 eight contained mice; one hundred and 

 thirty-one, other mammals ; thirty-seven, 

 frogs and related animals or reptiles ; for- 

 ty-seven, insects ; eight, crawfish ; one,, 

 centipedes ; thirteen, offal, and eighty- 

 nine were empty. This surely is not a 

 bad showing for this bird, so often ma- 

 ligned by being called "hen" or "chick- 

 en-hawk." Its preferred food is evi- 

 dently the smaller mammals, and as it is 

 common or even abundant it must be of 

 great value to agricultural interests. The 

 younger birds are more apt to take poul- 

 try because of "a lack of skill in procur- 

 ing a sufficient quantity of the more usual 

 prey." 



Mr. P: M. Silloway says, "None of the 

 Hawks has suffered more undeserved, 

 persecution than has the Red-tailed Buz- 

 zard or Hawk, whose characteristics 

 place it among the ignoble falcons, or 

 hawks, of feudal times. Lacking the 

 swiftness and impetuosity of attack pe- 

 culiar to the true falcons, it depends on 

 its ability to surprise its prey and drop 

 upon it when unable to escape." 



During the summer months it retires 

 to the forests to breed, where it builds a 

 large and bulky though shallow nest in 

 trees, often at a height of from fifty to 

 seventy-five feet from the ground. The 

 nest is constructed of sticks and small 

 twigs and lined with grass, moss, feath- 

 ers or other soft materials. The number 

 of eggs is usually three, though there 

 may be two or four. They are a little 

 over two inches long and less than two- 

 inches in diameter. They are dull 

 whitish in color and usually somewhat 

 marked with various shades of brown. 



The full plumage of the adult is not 

 acquired for some time and the bird has 

 been long full grown before the charac- 

 teristic red color of the tail appears. 



Seth Mindwell. 



ft 



54 



