When disturbed, it makes a short circuit, and soon settles on another perch. It builds its nest on a tree, of short sticks, lining it sparingly with deer's hair. The eggs, from three to five in number, are equal in size to those of the domestic fowl, and have a greenish-white colour, with a few large dark brown blotches at the thick end. It was seen by the Expedition as far north as the fifty-seventh parallel of latitude, and it most probably has a still higher range. Bill short, strong, as broad as deep at the base, compressed toward the end.
Nostrils irregularly obovate, in the fore part of the cere, nearer the ridge than the margin.
Claws long, arched, compressed, tapering to a point, flat beneath. Plumage ordinary, full, rather blended beneath. Feathers of the head and neck ovato-oblong, of the back and breast ovate and rounded, of the sides and outer part of the leg elongated, of the rest of the leg short. Tail rather long, broad, slightly rounded. The general colour of the upper parts is chocolate-brown.