HARRIS HAWK
335. Parabuteo unicinctus harrisi. 20 in.
Tail coverts, base and tip of tail, white. Adults with the shoulders, thighs and under wing-coverts, reddish-brown. Young with rusty edgings to feathers on the back; below, rusty buff with blackish spots or streaks; thighs barred with blackish. Space in front of eye, bare except for stiff hair-like bristles, yellowish like the cere. This species is the connecting link between the vultures and hawks of the genus buteo. Its feedings habits are similar to those of the vultures, with which it often associates when feeding upon carrion. They are very sluggish birds and their flight is slow and heavy; when not feeding they are usually perched on one foot on some dead limb, dozing.
Nest.—Made of sticks, twigs and weeds, placed in bushes or low trees. Their three or four eggs are dull white, unmarked (2.10 × 1.65).
Range.—Mexico, north to southern United States chiefly in Texas, but also found in New Mexico and casually east to Louisiana.
RED-TAILED HAWK
337. Buteo borealis. 21 in.
One of the handsomest and most powerfully built of our hawks. Adults with the tail rusty-red, with or without a narrow blackish band near the tip; below white, with a band of blackish streaks across the breast, and dusky markings on the sides. Young birds are similar, but have the tail grayish-brown with black bands. An examination of the food of this bird of prey, made by the Department of Agriculture, shows that, instead of living upon poultry as most farmers think, their food consists chiefly of frogs, snakes, lizards, mice and insects, less than one in ten of the stomachs examined containing any remains of poultry.
Notes.—A shrill whistle or scream.