164 
BIRDS OF NEW MEXICO 
In the vicinity of Mesilla Park Professor Merrill found the Red- 
tails the commonest hawks. As he reported, “they nest in the cotton¬ 
woods along the river in early spring and the young are foraging for 
themselves soon after the middle of June . . . After hawking for some 
time over the mesa they may be seen resting on the tips of yuccas and 
amoles, still on the lookout for prey. Sometimes they devour their 
prey there but they more often eat from the ground unless the food is to 
be carried back to the nest. In the valley, telegraph poles and fence 
posts are' good places from which to take their meals. In summer the 
diet of this species is largely insects, mixed with ground squirrels, young 
rabbits and mice. Two young specimens, killed in July, had nothing in 
their stomachs save insects” (MS). One had eaten fifty-five locusts and 
the other had dined still more to repletion. A specimen taken in 
October near Chloride had its stomach filled with insects, mainly grass¬ 
hoppers. In winter the food is principally cotton-tails, jack rabbits, 
and field mice. As Professor Merrill says, the damage done by this 
Hawk is greatly exaggerated and while almost every man’s hand is 
against him he fully deserves the protection of the law. 
Graphic descriptions of the capture of a bullsnake and rattlesnake 
by Red-tails are given by Mr. Jensen. “A few miles west of Santa Fe 
the road follows for several miles the bottom of a narrow valley fringed 
with rimrocks on the south side. Some of these cliffs are of considerable 
proportions and serve as nesting sites for Red-tails, Ravens, White- 
throated Swifts and other birds. Scanning the rocks through my field- 
glasses I discovered a male Red-tail sitting on a crag. While I was 
watching the bird, it suddenly dropped down to the base of the cliff, 
and I could see that a fierce struggle was taking place. I was not near 
enough to see what actually happened, but I could often see the wings of 
the hawk raised above the intervening low sagebrush and judge that the 
bird was continually changing position. 1 hurried as fast as I could 
towards the spot, and when I was about fifty feet away, the hawk took 
flight carrying in its talons a medium sized rattlesnake.” 
At another time in the same place a Red-tail was seen carrying a four 
foot bullsnake. “I saw the hawk pounce, but was too far away to see 
what took place. A few moments later the hawk reappeared carrying 
something heavy. The bird, with a great flapping of wings, struggled 
to a height of about two hundred feet, then spread its wings and sailed 
towards the west. During its upward flight it came straight over my 
head about fifty feet up” (1926, pp. 368-369). 
Additional Literature.—Finley, W. L., American Birds, 57-65, 1907.— 
Fisher, A. K. f Biol. Surv., U. S. Dept. Agr., Circular No. 61, pp. 6-7, 1907. 
RED-BELLIED HAWK: Buteo lineatus elegans Cassin 
Description. — Male: Wing 12-12.5 inches, tail 8-9, bill .8, tarsus 2.9. Female: 
13 inches, tail 9.5, bill .9, tarsus, 3-3.1. Four quills cut out on inner webs; outer 
