202 BIRDS OF ONTARIO. 



In tlie fall it heeomes i[uite miiuerous ini The irtuiii of those which 

 have bred farther north, accompanied hy their families. 



Southern Ontario is probably its centre of abundance in sumnunv 

 for though it occurs in Manitoba and has been found by Dr. Bell at 

 York Factor}-, it is not connuoii so far north. Duriiig the winter it 

 has not been ol)served. 



Like others of the family, this species varies greatly in |iliiiiiuge 

 according to circumstances. The young Inids do not show any of 

 the rich reddish-orange of the adult, and were at one time descrilied 

 as a sepaiffcte species under the name of Winter Falcon. From 

 western Texas to California, and south into Mexico, the colors become 

 much brighter and more decided, which has led to this M-estern form 

 l)eing de.scribed as a sub-species under the name of Hiitco Ilnca,tiit< 

 flctjanx (Cass.). ( )ccasionally we meet here with an adult in full 

 plumage which might well be included in this group, l)ut generalh' 

 all are much brighter in the west. 



This is another of the chicken hawks which has borne the repu- 

 tation (»f roljbing the poultry yard, but it is pleasant to observe 

 that the accusation is not verified by the recent examination of 

 stomachs. Dr. Fisher .says: "The diet of the lied-.shouldered Hawk 

 is probably more varied than that of most other birds of prey. For 

 example, the writer has found in the stomachs of the different indi- 

 viduals which have come under his notice the remains of mammals, 

 birds, snakes, frogs, fi.sh, insects, centipedes, s])iders, ci'awfish, earth- 

 worms and snail.s, which represent eleven classes of animal life. This 

 Hawk is very fond of frogs, and, although these batrachians are 

 mentioned by Audubon and other writers as forming a \ery con- 

 siderable portion of their sustenance, yet nn'ce furnish fullv sixty- 

 five per cent, of their focjd. 



" Be.sides this very injurious gi-oup of rodents, other small mam- 

 mals, such as squirrels, young rabbits, shiews and moles are taken. 

 Some authors insist that the Red-shouldered Mawk is destructive to 

 poultry, but the writer in all his field experience has never seen one 

 attack a fowl, nor has he found the remains of one in the stomachs 

 of those examined." 



With this record, he is fairly entitled to a place in the cla.ss whose 

 good acts are in excess of the evil. 



