166 
BIRDS OF NEW MEXICO 
tains just south of the New Mexico line (Mearns). At Fort Bayard it was noted 
May 21, 1911 (Rockhill). [An adult female was brought to Mr. Kellogg, April 
15, 1922, from Tyrone, Grant County. Another was seen on several occasions in 
the same locality.] The species is thus seen to be confined to the lower parts of 
extreme southwestern New Mexico. Since it also occurs in the Guadalupe Moun¬ 
tains of Texas within a few miles of New Mexico, where one was noted August 8, 
1901, in Turkey Canyon (Bailey), it is probable that it will be found eventually in 
southeastern New Mexico. The main home of the species is in Middle and South 
America and the above records represent the extreme northwestern part of the 
range.—W. W. Cooke. 
Nest. —Usually in tall cottonwoods bordering streams, made of coarse sticks 
lined with Spanish moss, green leaves, or inner bark. Eggs: 2 to 4, bluish white, 
mostly unspotted. 
Food. —Small mammals, lizards, frogs, and fish. 
General Habits. —As Mr. H. S. Swarth has noted, the resemblance 
of the Zone-tailed Hawk to the Turkey Vulture when flying is very 
striking, both as to coloration and manner of flight (1905, p. 78). One 
of the interesting Zone-tails was discovered by Mr. Bailey and Mr. 
Fuertes in the Guadalupe Mountains in a canyon named Turkey Canyon 
for the Merriam Turkeys, which formerly w T ere abundant there. 
The story of the capture of the Zone-tail figured above, from a field 
sketch by Mr. Fuertes, is given by Mr. Bailey. “Near the last of May 
in 1901, while Oberholser, Fuertes, and I were camped at the junction of 
Tornillo Creek with the Rio Grande near Boquillas in the Big Bend 
country of west Texas, Oberholser came hurrying in, exclaiming,‘Get all 
the ropes in camp. Fuertes is up on a cliff and can’t get down or up.’ 
We gathered up about 150 feet of picket ropes and went back along the 
top of the canyon wall for a mile, where we found Fuertes standing on a 
shelf about a hundred feet below the top of a cliff and several hundred 
feet above the bottom. He had shot a fine Zone-tailed Hawk, the first 
he had ever seen in life, but it had fallen high up the side of a rocky gulch 
and he had worked his way up an almost perpendicular cliff to get it. 
Then in trying to get up over the top he had reached an overhanging 
ledge that barred further progress, only to find that it was impossible 
to go down the way he had come up. His shelf was wide enough for a 
comfortable seat but not a good place to camp over night, and fortunately 
after shouting and firing his shotgun he had finally attracted the atten¬ 
tion of Oberholser, who had left camp later than he and was collecting 
birds on the mesa above, meanwhile wondering at his disappearance. 
Following the direction of the faint voice coming from down in the 
canyon, he reached the rim from which he could see Fuertes, unable to 
get either up or down. A rescue was speedily planned. Within another 
hour we reached the top with the ropes, tied them together and with one 
end fastened to a sturdy catsclaw bush above, the other was let down 
over the cliff and swung back and forth till it came in where Fuertes 
could catch it and loop it around one leg. Then while we pulled up the 
