NORTHERN RED-SHOULDERED HAWK 195 



Enemies. — The larger hawks have few enemies except man, but 

 Verdi Burtch's (1927) experience in finding a redtail feeding on a 

 freshly killed redshoulder and the murder of my pet hawk by a great 

 horned owl show that this species has at least two avian enemies. 

 But sportsmen, farmers, and poultry and game breeders are all 

 sworn enemies of all hawks and will not be convinced that there is 

 any good hawk but a dead hawk. The bounty system is far too 

 prevalent and leads to the killing of far too many old and young 

 hawks in or near their nests, which the farmers hunt up and watch 

 until the young hatch; the old birds are then more easily shot and 

 the heads of the young secured. I believe we have saved the lives 

 of many a family of hawks by taking the eggs in April ; they lay a 

 second set in May and stand a better chance of raising a brood when 

 the leaves are out ; then the nests are harder to find and the farmers 

 have ceased to look for them. 



Field maths. — The adult red-shouldered hawk is easily recognized 

 by the more or less pale, ruddy underparts and by the conspicuous 

 black-and-white barring on the wings and tail ; the broadwing has a 

 barred tail, but the bands are fewer, broader, and less conspicuously 

 black and white. The young redshoulder is much like the young 

 broadwing, but larger; it is smaller than the young redtail, and the 

 markings on the underparts are more evenly distributed, whereas 

 the young redtail has a largely white breast and dark markings on 

 the belly and flanks. Mr. Forbush (1927) says: "The only necessary 

 field mark when bird is soaring (even at a heiglit or distance which 

 may require a glass) is the apparent translucent spot in the wing 

 near its tip formed by the short black and white wing-barring. This 

 is diagnostic and no other New England hawk has anything like it." 



Fall. — About the middle of September and during October these 

 hawks become more in evidence and begin slowdy drifting southward. 

 Dr. Charles "VV. Townsend (1920) mentions a large flight that oc- 

 curred at Amesbury, Mass., on September 18, 1886, when a "flock of 

 about 300" passed. Referring to northeastern Illinois, Dr. E. W. 

 Nelson (1877a) writes: 



Mr. R. Kennicott speaks of an immense flight of this species, consisting of 

 thousands, which passed over Chicago, "in October, 1854." The main fall 

 migration of hawks in this vicinity takes place the last of September or first 

 of October, and a statement of the numbers which pass in a single day, to one 

 who has not observed them, would be received with incredulity. Choosing a 

 day when there is a strong south or south-west wind, the hawks commence 

 moving south early in the morning and continue flying the entire day, and so 

 numerously that, taking a stand at a good point, one would have from one to 

 fifty hawks in view, with but very few intermissions, throughout the day. 

 Among these occur all the migrants, but by far the greater number consist 

 of the smaller species. 



