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BIRDS OF NEW MEXICO 
that they are seldom noticed in migration. . . . They seem to be able 
to see well in the gathering dusk, as they hunt very early in the morning 
and after sunset when mice are active” (1927, 143). 
This large winter visitant from the far north, called “Squalling 
Hawk” by the people of Labrador from its loud screams, prefers flat 
open country to heavily timbered regions. It is one of the most benefi¬ 
cial of hawks. As Doctor Fisher says, “the Rough-leg is one of man's 
most important allies against meadow mice, feeding on little else during 
its sojourn in the United States," hunting largely “during twilight and 
early dawn, when small mammals are most active" (1907, p. 5). 
Unfortunately both the Rough-legged Hawks and the Golden and 
Bald Eagles have been greatly reduced in numbers by getting acci¬ 
dentally caught by coyote and wolf trappers, and those that are left 
need especial safe-guarding. 
FERRUGINOUS ROUGH-LEG: Tri6rchis ferrugmeus (Lichtenstein) 
Plates 9, 11, and 12 
Description. — Male: Length about 22.5 inches, wing 15.9-17, tail 9.5-10.5 
bill 1.7-1.9, gape about 1.8. Female: Length about 24 inches, wing 17-18.8, tail 
10.5-11; wing with four quills cut out on inner web; legs feathered in front to toes. 
Adults, normal phase: Upper parts, flanks, and feathered legs ferruginous, the upper- 
parts streaked, the flanks and feathered legs barred with blackish; tail white washed 
with ash gray and stained with ferruginous; wings with quills and secondaries lead 
color; wing linings white marked with rufous; underparts white, sometimes slightly 
streaked with dusky; iris, cere, and feet bright yellow. Dark phase: Body choco 
late-brown, varied with rusty; tail normal. Young: Upperparfs grayish brown, 
with less rufous, the feathers edged with rusty or yellowish brown; underparts and 
flanks white, the flanks more or less spotted with dusky, markings extending onto 
belly; tail whitish for basal third, usually with several more or less distinct dark 
bands. 
Comparisons— The two Rough-legged Hawks, the Western Red-tail and 
Swainson, fairly comparable in size, and with confusing normal, melanistic, and 
variously intermediate plumages, may be difficult to identify. The feathered tarsus 
of the two Rough-legs, however, when it can be seen, separates them from the West¬ 
ern Red-tail and Swainson (see Swainson, comparisons, p. 167), and thered tail of 
all adult Western Red-tails distinguishes them. Of the two Rough-legs, the Ameri¬ 
can has a dark terminal tail band lacking in the Ferruginous, never has as much 
white on the breast nor ruddy on the back and flanks as the Ferruginous, and in 
one plumage is easily recognized by its dark abdominal band. (PI. 9.) In similar 
black plumages the shape of the bill, as seen from above, distinguishes the two, 
being narrow and constricted toward the gape in the American, “broad and frog- 
mouthed” in the Ferruginous (Taverner). 
Range. —Breeds mainly in Transition Zone from southern Washington (prob¬ 
ably a summer resident in arid southern interior of British Columbia), southwestern 
Saskatchewan, and southern Manitoba south to Kansas, Colorado, Utah, and south¬ 
ern California; winters from Montana to Lower California and Mexico. 
State Records.— The Ferruginous Rough-leg breeds south to central Colorado, 
and in New Mexico most abundantly on and about the Saint Augustine Plain, 
northwest, west, and southwest of Magdalena, at about 6,500-7,000 feet. 
