BUZZARD HAWKS 
131 
347. Common Rough-legged Hawk la buse pattue commune. Buteo lagopus. 
L, 22. One of the largest of our hawks, slightly smaller than the Ferruginous Itough-ieg 
and comparing in size very closely with the Red-tailed. It occurs in a light and a dark 
phase, and has intermediate plumages. The commonest coloration (Figure 191), the 
light phase, probably a juvenile plumage, is brown above, with much blended cream, or 
rusty ochre feather edgings that become more extensive on head. The base of the tail is 
cream, changing to dark for final half. Below — cream or dull light ochre, with practically 
solid and complete dark brown abdominal band, usually sharply defined at upper line. 
Face, foreneck, and breast more or less striped with brown. The dark phase is solid, near 
black like the corresponding plumage of the other buzzard hawks. Adult and intermediate 
plumages have a peculiar speckled appearance of mixed brown or black, without system- 
atic pattern. The only constant characters of plumages are the lightening or whitening of 
the basal half of the tail. 
Figure 191 
American Rough-legged Hawk; scale, 
Appearance in Might of most characteristic plumage. 
Distinctions. With its feathered tarsus (like Figure 190), to be confused only with 
the Ferruginous Rough-leg. In the dark phases the two are absolutely alike in colour, but 
this species never has the large amount of pure white that the ordinary plumage of that 
species shows. In the pale phase the ochraceous breast and head and the conspicuous dark 
abdominal band (Figure 191) are distinctive. In the adult and intermediate plumages, 
the Ferruginous never seems to have the irregular spotted or speckled mixture of this 
species. In the complete dark phase, the bill shape that is distinctive in any plumage is 
probably the best criterion. In this species, looking at the bill from above, it is narrow 
and constricted towards the gape (Figure 192) instead of being broad and “frog-mouthed” 
(Figure 195). 
Field Marks. Recognizable by its outline and high soaring 
habits as a buzzard. 
Except in characteristic plumage with extensive dull ochre 
breast and sharply defined dark abdominal patch, it is difficult 
to separate it from several similarly appearing hawks. The under 
surface of the wing usually has a much more pronounced 
“thumb-mark” of dark near base of primaries than other com- 
parable species, and the tail, white at base and dark at end, 
shows a much wider, broader, and more pronounced tail band 
than in any other similar bird (Figure 191). The American 
Rough-leg has the same light spot at the base of the primaries 
on the upper surface of the wing as the Ferruginous (Figure 
194). 
Nesting. On the ground, on rocky ledges, or in trees. 
Distribution. Northern parts of Northern Hemisphere. A bird of the far north. In 
America nesting on the barren grounds across the continent. Wintering from British 
Columbia and Minnesota southward. Only a migrant, almost a winter visitor, in cultivated 
sections of Canada. 
Figure 192 
Narrow bill of American 
Rough-legged Hawk 
(from above); 
natural size. 
