THE EED-SHOULDERED HAWK. 37 



smaller than specimens collected in New England. These 

 eggs must have been laid by the 25th of March. In New 

 England, they are seldom laid before the last week in April 

 to the first week in May. 



BUTEO LINE ATUS. — Jardine. 



The Eed-shouldered Hawk. 



Falco limatus and hjemalis, Gm. Syst. Nat., I. 268, 274 (1788). 

 Falco buteoides, Nuttall. Mau., I. 100 (1st edition, 1832). 



Description. 



Adult. — Wing coverts, from its flexure to the body, fine bright rufous; Dreast 

 and other lower parts of the body paler orange rufous, many feathers with transverse 

 bars and spots of white, which predominate on the abdomen and under tail coverts; 

 entire upper parts brown ; on the head mixed with rufous, and with white spots on 

 the wing coverts and shorter quills and rump ; quills brownish-black, with white spots 

 on their outer webs, and with bars of a lighter shade of brown and of white on 

 their inner webs; tail brownish-black, with about five transverse bauds of white, 

 and tipped with white. 



Young. — Entire upper parts yellowish-white, with longitudinal stripes and 

 oblong spots of dark-brown; throat dark brown; upper parts lighter ashy-brown, 

 with manj' partially concealed spots and bars of white; quills dark-brown, with 

 wide transverse bars of rufous and white on both webs; tail ashy-brown, with 

 numerous bands of pale-brownish and rufous white; tail beneath silvery-white; 

 bill light-blue at the base, bluish-black at the tip; cere, basal margin of the bill, 

 edges of the eyelid> and the feet, bright-yellow ; iris hazel. 



Total length, female, twenty -one to twenty-three inches; wing, fourteen; tail, 

 nine inches. Male, eighteen to twenty inches ; wing, twelve ; tail, eight inches. 



This bird is a rather common resident of all New Eng- 

 land throughout the year. Its habits are so nearly like 

 those of the preceding, that I can add nothing to that I 

 have already written. 



The best account of the bird's habits in the breeding 

 season, that I remember, is given by Audubon. It is as 

 follows : — 



" This bird is one of the most noisy of its genus, during spring 

 especially, when it would be difficult to api^roach the skirts of woods 

 bordering a large plantation without hearing its discordant shrill 

 notes, — ka-hee, ka-hee, — as it is seen sailing in rapid circles at a 

 very great elevation. Its ordinary flight is even and protracted, 



