132 
BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
maxillary area. Lining of wings extensively blackish. Tail usually white from 
the base for some distance, then with dark and light barring. The inner webs of the 
flight feathers extensively white from the base, usually with little, if any, of the 
dark barring so prevalent among buteonine hawks. From such a light and varie- 
gated plumage as this, the bird varies to more or less nearly uniform blackish, in 
which case the tail is usually barred several times with white. * * Length of a 
female, 22.00; extent, 54.00 ; wing, 17.50; tail, 9.00; iris light brown; bill mostly 
blackish-blue, cere pale greenish-yellow, feet dull yellow, claws blue-black. This 
is about an average size ; the male averages smaller.” — Cone's Key. 
Habitat . — Whole of North America north of Mexico, breeding north of the United 
States. 
In any plumag-e this bird can easily be distinguished from other of 
our hawks by the tarsus, which is thickly feathered in front to the toes. 
I have found the Rough-legged or Black Hawk in Pennsylvania only as 
a winter sojourner, about the meadows and grass fields along or near 
large streams. In the winter of 1879, when hunting along the Brandy- 
wine creek, I saw seven of these hawks at one time, perched about on 
trees in a meadow of some five acres in extent. In this locality the 
species is usually found singly or in pairs. The Rough-legs generally 
migrate northward about the middle of March : I have, however, ob- 
served them here late in April. “Its migrations appear to be quite 
regular and extensive — more so, perhaps, than is generally supposed — 
though probably it does not differ -from most hawks in this respect. 
Birds of this family must follow their prey, wherever this leads them, 
and only a few of the more powerful species, able to prey upon hares 
and Ptarmigan, pass the winter in our highest latitudes. The Rough- 
legged is a rather northerly species, rarely, if ever, breeding within the 
limits of the United States, and becoming rarer towards its southern 
terminus.” — Coues. 
I desire to correct here an error which I am confident was made in 
the first issue of the Birds of Penna., pp 92-93, where I stated, on the 
authority of Mr. Samuel B. Ladd, of West Chester, Pa., that he (Mr. 
Ladd) had, April 5, 1886, found a nest and two eggs of this bird, in a 
thick woods at Fite’s Eddy, on the Susquehanna river. A description 
of the nest and eggs was published in my first report, as given to me 
by Mr. Ladd, but I have since learned from Mr. Ladd that he did not 
secure or even see the hawks, hence I am satisfied that this “ record ” 
was without doubt based on erroneous identification. Dr. C. H. Mer- 
riam. Ornithologist, United States Department of Agriculture, Washing- 
ton, D. C., informs me that he is not aware of a single authentic record 
of the breeding of the Rough-legged Hawk anywhere within the limits 
of the United States. 
“ It is a sluggish bird, and confines itself to the meadows and low 
grounds bordering the rivers and salt marshes along our bays and inlets. 
In such places you may see it perched on a stake, where it remains for 
hours at a time, unless some wounded bird comes in sight, when it sails 
after it, and secures it without manifesting much swiftness of flight. It 
