RED-BELLIED HAWK 203 



its domicile. Sometimes in this pursuit it is joined by a crow, and 

 I have seen the two hustling an owl's departure with considerable 

 spirit." 



BUTEO LINEATUS ELEGANS Cassin 

 RED-BELLIED HAWK 



HABITS 



In a large grove of big cottonwoods near San Jacinto, Calif., on 

 March 8, 1929, I made the acquaintance of this beautiful hawk. As 

 we sat on a log, eating our lunch, we heard and saw three different 

 birds; of those seen clearly, one was immature and one a handsome 

 adult. I could well imagine that I was away back home in the 

 good old New England woods in April, listening to the screams of 

 our familiar Buteos and watching their graceful soarings over the 

 leafless treetops. As it lives in similar haunts, its habits, appear- 

 ance, and voice seemed identical with those of our eastern red- 

 shouldered hawk. The birds seemed to be interested in the locality, 

 and we found what proved to be their new nest, 40 or 50 feet up 

 on a branch and against the leaning trunk of a large cottonwood. 

 My companion, Wright M. Pierce, visited this nest on April 9, with 

 the result shown on plate 60. 



The red-bellied hawk is about the same size as its eastern relative 

 but much more brilliantly colored, the deep rufous of th© breast 

 being nearly, or quite, unbroken in adults; young birds are much 

 darker, the deep brownish markings prevailing. 



I was told that this hawk had become very scarce and that I 

 could hardly hope to see one in southern California. It has un- 

 doubtedly been greatly reduced in numbers in the more thickly set- 

 tled regions, but we seldom failed to find it in suitable localities, 

 wooded river bottoms and lowland forests, remote from civilization. 

 It is not an open-country bird like the redtail and so is less in evi- 

 dence. It prefers the sheltered groves along the streams in the lower 

 interior valleys, extending its hunting range into the adjoining fields 

 and marshes. 



James B. Dixon (1928) writes: 



The tJTiical range of a pair of these birds usually contains a central grove 

 of oak, willow, or cottonwood trees in a river bottom, in which to build the 

 nest. The birds are particularly partial to such a location when the sur- 

 rounding canyon sides are heavily wooded and the stream bed is surrounded by 

 open meadows of wet pasture land and alfalfa fields. They have a habit of 

 sitting low on some dead snag or telephone post from which they can dart 

 suddenly down and capture their prey. Their sense of hearing is extremely 

 keen and I think they hunt as much by it as by sight. They do not descend 

 from a great height in a grand swoop to strike their unsuspecting prey as 

 does the Western Red-tail or the Golden Eagle, their hunting tactics being 

 much more like those of the Marsh Hawk and the American Long-eared Owl. 



