186 NOTES ON THE 



The flight of the Red-tailed Hawk is truly a marvel of dignity 

 and grace equalled by few and excelled by no other species of 

 bird. Who would have every sentiment of poetry in his nature 

 awakened and "see God in his works," let him watch its flight 

 lovingly and reverently one hour. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 



Tail bright rufous, narrowly tipped with white, and having 

 a subterminal band of black; entire upper parts a dark umber 

 brown, lighter and with fulvous edgings on the head and neck; 

 upper tail coverts yellowish-white, with rufous and brown 

 spots and bands; throat white, with narrow longitudinal 

 stripes of brown; other under parts pale yellowish- white, with 

 longitudinal lines and spots of reddish-brown, tinged with 

 rufous most numerous on the breast, and forming an irregular 

 band across the abdomen; under tail coverts and tibii^ gen- 

 erally clear yellowish-white, unspotted, but the latter fre- 

 quently spotted and transversely barred with rufous; under 

 surface of tail silvery-white. 



Length (of female), 28; wing, 15 to lO; tail, 8.50. 



Habitat, eastern North America. 



BUTEO BOREALIS KRIDEKIl Hoopes. (337a ) 

 KRIDERS HAWK. 



My attention had for some time been called to a white hawk 

 by observing sportsmen, when one day Mr. G. W. Tinsley, a 

 leading one of them of Minneapolis, brought me one that he had 

 taken. Shortly another one was brought to me, which, after 

 careful examination I decided was something new. About the 

 same time I learned that Mr. Krider, of Philadelphia, while 

 spending the summer in this section, had obtained several 

 of these Hawks, and submitted them to Mr. Hoopes, of that 

 city. Hoopes named the variety as above. During some years 

 they are met with quite frequently, while in others I hear of 

 none. The plumage varies exceedingly in the individuals that 

 I have seen, but the presence of more or less white is its dis- 

 tinguishing characteristic for varietal recognition. 



Having seen no nests, or seen no one who has, I can add no 

 further facts in the history of this variety of the Red-tailed 

 Hawk, except that they are less a prairie species than has 

 been represented by some writers. On the contrary, I find 

 them predisposed to neither prairies nor dense forests, but 

 sparsely timbered openings. 



Note. Since writing the above, I have ascertained that this 

 variety of the Red- tails has been observed in the vicinity of 

 Lake Superior, at Red lake, Mille Lacs and Lake Traverse. 



