102 BIRDS OF PREY. 



ginous white, marked rather thinly with oblong or ob lanceolate 

 brown spots ; belly nearly spotless, the vent wholly so ; femorals 

 ferruginous- white with hastate transverse, and some terminal point- 

 ed bars. Legs short, strong, and yellow. Irids dark brown. — 

 Note. In my larger specimen (or the female) , the lower part of the 

 breast, approaching the belly, is marked with a few large roundish dark 

 spots ; the whole under side is nearly white, with the spots fewer 

 and larger ; the chin is also thickly spotted, which is not so in the 

 male ; the femorals are likewise covered with long thin feathers 

 almost entirely spotless ; the bars on the quills are less prominent, 

 and the tail distinctly barred on both sides ; no bars appearing on 

 the upper side of the tail in the male. The 4 first primaries notched 

 on their inner vanes, and the Ath primary longest ! 



RED-TAILED HAWK or BUZZARD. 



{Falco borealiSfGiiiEi.. Audubon, pi. 51. Wilson, Am. Orn. vi. p. 7.5. 

 pi. 52. fig. 1. [adult] and American Buzzard, F. leverianus, 

 Ibid. vi. p. 78. pi. 52. fig. 2. [young].) 



Spec. Charact. — Dusky brown; beneath whitish with dark has- 

 tate spots ; wings considerably shorter than the tail. — Female 

 very similar to the male. In the adult the tail is ferruginous, 

 with a blackish subterminal band. — Young, with the tail pale 

 dusky brown, crossed by 9 or 10 narrow blackish bands. 



This beautiful Buzzard inhabits most parts of the 

 United States, being observed from Canada to Florida ; 

 also, fal- westward up the Missouri, and even on the 

 coasts of the northern Pacific Ocean, by Lewis and 

 Clarke.* Wilson found the young to be fully grown 

 in the month of May, about latitude 31 degrees on the 

 banks of the Mississippi ; at this period they were very 

 noisy and clamorous, keeping up an incessant squealing. 

 They also occasionally nest and breed in large trees in 

 the secluded forests of this part of Massachusetts. The 

 young birds soon become very submissive, and allow 



* Vol. ii. page 88. 



