Part 67

The history and habits of this very common Hawk seem to have been involved, among earlier writers, in a confusion that seems hardly explicable. Wilson described and always regarded the young and old as two distinct species, calling the former hyemalis, giving to it a northern residence, and the mature bird lineatus. Mr. Audubon repeated this error at first, and sought to demonstrate its correctness by giving to the two forms very dissimilar habits. Bonaparte believed these forms to be identical, and Nuttall did the same, but was altogether in error as to its distribution. He was not aware of its presence in Massachusetts, where it is at times the most abundant of the raptorial birds. This writer only met with it in the Southern States, where he found it very common in swampy situations. He speaks of its having a quailing cry of mutual recognition, which is a plaintive echoing note, like keé-oó, which is continued with little intermission for nearly twenty minutes. He describes the species as not shy, and as very easily approached. These Hawks remain mated throughout the year, and their affectionate treatment of each other is in striking contrast with the selfish indifference of the Red-tail species when their breeding-season is ended.

Nuttall observed it feeding on frogs, cray-fish, and even insects, and rarely troubling larger game. In only one instance did he see one descend upon a Plover. Wilson saw them attack Plover, Sand-pipers, Larks, and even Hawks; but the last is very rare and exceptional. I have never known one of this species to molest the poultry-yard. From 1828 to 1838, during my stay in Roxbury, a pair of these Hawks were residents within a few hundred yards of the house, where, as they never molested the tenants of the barn-yard, they were not allowed to be disturbed. Their breeding-place we could not find, but they kept about an open spring during the winter, feeding upon small game, and were not at all shy. One of them unfortunately was wounded, and was kept in confinement several days. It was the male bird, in full adult plumage, and was by no means wild, feeding readily upon what was given to it, even with our near presence. It would not tolerate a too great familiarity, but manifested great irritation if we attempted to approach it. Its wing had been badly shattered, and it finally died from mortification of the wound. It would never submit to be handled, and fought desperately when we sought to have its limb bound up. After we gave up this attempt as impossible it became rather more familiar, and would even at last greet me with a welcome cry of recognition, and take its food from my hand.

Wilson, in speaking of the adult bird, states that this Hawk has a high and very irregular flight, and is quite different from that of species with longer wings. In his account of the immature plumage, he notes its arrival in Pennsylvania early in November, and its departure in March. He speaks of it as a dexterous catcher of frogs, and adds that it sometimes so stuffs itself that it can fly with difficulty. He has found the remains of ten frogs in the stomach of a single individual.

The Red-shouldered Hawk constructs a large nest, not unlike that of the Crow, in the forked branches of a high tree. It is composed externally of sticks, and is lined with moss and soft leaves. The eggs are four in number, and occasionally three or two. When the nest is approached, the bird utters loud, frequent, and peculiar cries of alarm and resentment, not unlike keé-oó! rapidly repeated, but makes no attempt at resistance. The pair return year after year to the same nest, even when it has been robbed the previous season.

The eggs of this Hawk are of a very uniform spheroidal-oval shape, but slightly pointed at one end, and exhibit certain very general characteristics in the colors of their markings, but vary greatly in their size. The length varies from 2.20 to 2.00, and the breadth from 1.81 to 1.56. The ground-color is usually a dingy white, rarely pure white, and frequently with decidedly brownish tinge. The blotches are most frequently of a yellowish umber color; sometimes blotches of sienna-brown, slate-drab, and more obscure shades of brown are present, and these colors are not unfrequently confusedly mingled. An egg from Cheraw, S. C., has a ground-color of a light drab, tinged with slate and without any blotches whatever. It is not uncommon to find these nearly unspotted eggs in the same nest with others very boldly and profusely blotched. The Cheraw egg measures 2.00 by 1.56 inches; an egg from Massachusetts, 2.20 by 1.81: their relative capacity being nearly as three to four. They average about 2.10 by 1.68 inches.

Mr. L. Heiligbrodt found the nest of this Hawk near Austin, Texas. One egg was taken from the nest, and in a few days after a second was found to have been deposited (S. I. 15,894).

The handsome variety known as B. elegans is generally spoken of by all familiar with its habits, as well as with its appearance, as the almost exact counterpart of the Red-shouldered Hawk, replacing that form on the west coast.

In regard to its distinctive specific habits but little is as yet known, but it is probable they are not essentially different from those of the lineatus, Dr. Cooper bearing positive testimony to this fact. He found this Hawk common in the southern part of the State, especially near San Diego, but he did not meet with any in the Colorado Valley. On his approach to one of them, it would always fly off from its usual perch, circling up high into the air, and uttering short shrill screams in rapid succession in the manner of the lineatus. He noticed a pair constantly at one place near a ranch, and supposed they were about building there, but was not able to find the nest.

Among the memoranda of Mr. Xantus, made at Fort Tejon, Cal., is one dated May 9, mentioning the finding the nest of this species. It contained four eggs, was built in an old decayed tree, in a swamp, and was about fifteen feet from the ground. The nest was large and made of sticks.

Buteo borealis (GMEL.).

RED-TAILED HAWK.

SP. CHAR. Form heavy and robust; wings moderate, the third to fifth quill longest; the first shorter than the seventh; outer four with inner webs cut. Feet strong, the tarsi and toes robust, and claws not very acute. Dimensions: Wing, 13.50–17.25; tail, 8.50–11.30; culmen, .90–1.15; tarsus, 2.70–3.40; middle toe, 1.60–1.95; weight, 2½ to 4 lbs. Colors: Adult: tail, deep lateritious-rufous, paler at the tip, and usually with a subterminal bar of black (sometimes without any bar, and sometimes with numerous bars to the base). Above blackish-brown, more or less variegated with whitish on the scapulars and wing-coverts; beneath white, usually with a belt of blackish spots across the abdomen; sometimes wholly dusky or blackish beneath, but the pectoral region always appreciably lighter than the abdomen; under surface of primaries plain white anterior to their emargination. Young. Tail grayish-brown, with nine or ten narrow, sharply defined bands of blackish. Pattern of other parts as in the adult, but the white purer, and the plumage generally with less rufous.

HAB. Entire continent of North America; West Indies.

The plumage varies from wholly dusky blackish, with a paler, more brownish, pectoral area, and the tail of the adult with numerous black bars, or indications of bars, to the very base (var. calurus), through various proportionate degrees of rufous and dusky, to entirely pure white beneath, without any spotting; the tail of the adult without a single black bar (vars. krideri and lucasanus).

Var. borealis, GMELIN.

EASTERN RED-TAIL.

Falco borealis, GMEL. Syst. Nat. p. 266, 1789.—LATH. Ind. Orn. p. 25, 1790; Syn. I, p. 50, 1780; Supp. II, 34, 1787; Gen. Hist. I, p. 265, 1821.—DAUD. Tr. Orn. II, 157, 1800.—SHAW, Zoöl. VII, 112, 1812.—WILS. Am. Orn. pl. lii, fig. 1, 1808.—SAB. Frankl. Exp. p. 670.—WAGL. Isis, p. 517, 1831.—BONAP. Ann. N. Y. Lyc. II, pp. 32, 434; Isis, p. 1138, 1832.—AUD. Birds Am. pl. li, 1831; Orn. Biog. I, p. 265, 1831; Syn. VI.—GRAY, Genera, 1840.—RICH. F. B. A. II, 50, 1831.—NUTT. Man. I, 102, 1840.—GOSSE, Birds Jam. II, 1847.—DOUGH. Cab. I, 229, pl. xxx, 1830. Buteo borealis, VIEILL. Nouv. Dict. Hist. Nat. IV, p. 478, 1819; Enc. Méth. III, p. 1222, 1823.—VIG. Zoöl. Journ. I, p. 340; Zoöl. Beech. Voy. p. 15.—STEPH. Zoöl. XIII, pt. 2, p. 47, 1826.—LESS. Tr. Orn. p. 79, 1831.—JAMES. (WILS.) Am. Orn. I, pp. 82, 84, 1808.—JARD. (WILS.) Am. Orn. II, pp. 280, 282, 1808.—BREW. (WILS.) Am. Orn. p. 450; Synop. p. 684.—BONAP. Eur. & N. Am. B. p. 3, 1838; Consp. Av. p. 19.—AUD. Synop. p. 6, 1839.—GRAY, Gen. B. fol. sp. 6, 1844; List B. Brit. Mus. p. 34, 1844.—PUCHER. Rev. Zoöl. p. 214, 1850.—GOSSE, B. Jam. p. 11, pl. ii, 1847.—CASS. B. Cal. & Tex. Syn. p. 97, 1854; Proc. Ac. Sc. Philad. p. 279, 1855.—GAMB. Journ. Ac. Nat. Sc. Phil. N. S. I, p. 26.—NUTT. Man. Orn. U. S. & Canad. p. 102, 1833.—DE KAY, Zoöl. N. Y. II, p. 9, pl. viii, f. 17 (Juv.), 1844.—PEAB. Bost. Journ. Nat. Hist. III, p. 80, 1837.—THOMP. Hist. Verm. App. p. 63, 1853.—PEALE, U. S. Expl. Exp. p. 62, 1848.—TOWNS. Sit. Exp. Zuñi & Color. p. 59.—KAUP, Ueb. Falk. Mus. Senck. p. 261, 1845.—STRICKL. Orn. Syn. I, 29, 1855.—MAX. Cab. Journ. VI, 1858, 17.—BLAKIST. Ibis, III, 1861, 318.—WOOD, Am. Nat. III, 1869, 393.—GRAY, Hand List, I, 1869, 7. Astur borealis, CUV. Règ. An. (ed. 2), I, 332, 1829.—SWAINS. Class. B. I, 316; II, 215, 1837, Pœcilopternis borealis, KAUP, Isis, Mon. Falc. Cont. Orn. 1850, p. 76. Falco leverianus, GMEL. Syst. Nat. 266, 1789.—LATH. Ind. Orn. p. 181, 1790; Syn. Supp. I, 31, 1787; Gen. Hist. I, 620, 1821.—DAUD. Tr. Orn. II, 126, 1800.—SHAW, Zoöl. VII, 151, 1812.—WILS. Am. Orn. pl. lii (Juv.), 1808.—AUD. Orn. Biog. I, 265. Buteo leverianus, VIG. Zoöl. Journ. I, 340.—STEPH. Zoöl. XIII, pt. 2, p. 47, 1815. Falco aquilinus, BARTR. Tran. p. 390, 1791. Accipiter ruficaudus, VIEILL. Ois. Am. Sept. pl. xiv, bis. 1807. Buteo fulvus, VIEILL. Ois. Am. Sept. p. 34; Nouv. Dict. Hist. IV, p. 468 (quot. F. jamaicensis), 1819. Buteo ferrugineocaudus, VIEILL. Ois. Am. Sept. pl. vi, 1807.—CUV. Règ. An. (ed. 2), I, 337. Buteo americanus, VIEILL. Nouv. Dict. Nat. IV, 477 (quot.), Ois. Am. Merid. pl. vi, Enc. Méth. III, 1224, 1823. ? Buteo gallinivorus, VIEILL. Ois. Buteo borealis, BREWER, N. A. Oölogy, 1857.

SP. CHAR. Adult. Upper parts rich blackish-brown, approaching black on the back; scapulars and middle wing-coverts edged and barred beneath the surface with dull white, and tinged along edges with ochraceous. Wings generally of a paler shade than the back; secondaries fading into nearly white at tips, and, with the greater coverts, obscurely barred with darker; primaries nearly black, tips edged with pale brown, this passing into whitish. Rump uniform blackish-brown, feathers obscurely bordered with rusty. Upper tail-coverts ochraceous-white, nearly pure terminally, and with about two distinct transverse bars of deep rufous. Tail rich uniform lateritious-rufous, passing narrowly into white at the tip, and about an inch (or less) from the end crossed by a narrow band of black. Head and neck with the feathers medially blackish-brown, their edges rusty-rufous, causing a streaked appearance; the rufous prevailing on the sides of the occiput, the ear-coverts, and neck. The blackish almost uniform on the forehead and on the cheeks, over which it forms a broad “mustache”; lores and sides of frontlet whitish. Throat white, with broad stripes of pure slaty-brown; lower parts in general ochraceous-white; tibiæ and lower tail-coverts immaculate; across the abdomen and flanks (immediately in front of the tibiæ) is a broad interrupted belt of longitudinal black blotches, those on the abdomen tear-shaped, on the flanks larger and more irregular, throwing off bars toward the edge of the feathers; whole pectoral area variegated only with a few shaft-streaks of black (these growing broader laterally), and sometimes washed with rusty. Lining of the wing ochraceous-white, with sparse diamond-shaped spots of pale rufous, and shaft-streaks of darker; under surface of primaries white anterior to their emargination, beyond which they gradually deepen into black; the innermost ones are finely mottled with slaty, and with imperfect transverse bars of the same.

Male. Wing, 13.50–16.50; tail, 8.50–10.00; culmen, .95–1.08; tarsus, 1.40–3.20; middle toe, 1.60–1.70. Weight, 2½–3 lbs.

Female. Wing, 15.25–17.75; tail, 9.50–10.50; culmen, 1.00–1.15; tarsus, 3.15–3.40; middle toe, 1.70–1.80. Weight, 3–4 lbs.

Young (28,154, Philadelphia; J. Krider). Above similar to the adult, but lacking entirely any rufous tinge, the scapulars and wing-coverts more variegated with whitish. Tail light grayish-brown (very much lighter than the rump), tinged, especially basally, with rufous, narrowly tipped with white, and crossed with nine or ten narrow, curved bands of black; upper tail-coverts white, with broad bars of black. Head as in the adult, but the rufous wanting, leaving the streaks black and white; forehead more broadly white; chin and throat wholly white, the latter with a collar of dusky streaks across the lower part; whole pectoral region entirely immaculate, pure white; abdominal band as in the adult; tibiæ somewhat tinged with ochraceous, unvariegated.

HAB. Eastern North America; not in West Indies, nor west of the Missouri.

Localities: (?) Bahamas (BRYANT, Pr. Bost. Soc. 1867, 64).

LIST OF SPECIMENS EXAMINED.

National Museum, 9; Philadelphia Academy, 13; Boston Society, 8; Museum, Cambridge, 15; Cab. G. N. Lawrence, 3; Coll. R. Ridgway, 2. Total, 50.

The true Buteo borealis, as restricted, may always be distinguished from the var. calurus, its western representative, by its having the posterior lower parts (tibiæ and lower tail-coverts) entirely free from transverse bars, and by lacking indications of transverse bars on the tail, anterior to the conspicuous subterminal one. It differs from the var. costaricensis, in having the head and neck conspicuously striped with rufous, and the throat thickly striped with black, almost obliterating the white; in the conspicuous abdominal belt of large black spots, and in having the tibiæ lighter ochraceous than the breast; from the var. lucasanus and var. krideri, it is distinguished by having the black tail-band, more spotted under parts, and in the upper tail-coverts being white, banded with rufous, instead of plain white, or deep rufous, uniform with the tail.

A specimen (No. 1,750, Carlisle, Pa.; S. F. Baird) appears at first sight much like the var. calurus, being very dark; the tibiæ, anal region, and the lower tail-coverts are, however, not barred as in this, and the tail possesses but the subterminal band.

An immature specimen (No. 21,488; John Krider) from Philadelphia has the tibiæ quite distinctly barred, but less conspicuously so than in young of var. calurus.