72 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



" Hen Hawk," the Red-tailed very seldom raids 

 the chicken-yard. Where mice, squirrels and 

 their kind are plentiful, it never does so. A di- 

 vergence from this fact by an individual who has 

 acquired the poultry taste may vi'arrant that par- 

 ticular bird's destruction, but personally I would 

 rather let these Hawks have a chicken or two 

 for their services in keeping down the mouse 

 and rat population. In four years of chicken- 

 farming this toll has not been required, although 

 many pairs nest and live around my farm. One 

 day an investigation of shrill squeals from a tall 

 chestnut revealed three Red-tails quarreling over 

 a young woodchuck, so fiercely that I walked 

 directly beneath the fighting trio before they 



black bars. This variation occurs in western 

 North America from Alaska and Mackenzie 

 southward to Cape San Lucas and Guatemala, 

 east to western part of the Great Plains ; it is 

 found casually in Illinois and Ontario. 



Harlan's Hawk (Dutco borcalls liarlani) is 

 nearly uniform black; its tail is much mottled 

 with grayish, rufous and white, and has a sub- 

 terminal band of black. It is geographically dis- 

 tributed over the lower Mississippi valley and 

 the Gulf States from Louisiana to Georgia and 

 Florida ; sometimes it occurs in Colorado, Texas, 

 Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, and Pennsyl- 

 vania. 



The Alaska Red-tail (Biitrn hnrcalls alasrni- 



Photograph by II. K. Job 



HOME-LIFE OF RED-TAILED HAWK 



Courtesy of Outing Pubhshnig Co. 



took alarm and fled, letting the object of the 

 fracas drop to the ground. 



Krider's Hawk (Biitco borcalis kridcri) is a 

 light-colored race, nearly pure white below with 

 but few markings on abdomen, the subterminal 

 tail-bar very faint or wanting, the upper side of 

 the tail light chestnut, and a mixture of much 

 white in plumage of the upper parts. It is found 

 on the Great Plains from Wyoming, North 

 Dakota, and Minnesota south to Nebraska and 

 Missouri, and in winter to Wisconsin, Illinois, 

 Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. 



The Western Red-tail (Butco borcalis calu- 

 riis) is much darker than the stock form ; nor- 

 mal specimens show heavier and darker bars and 

 spots below ; in extreme cases it is uniform deep 

 brown with the tail rich red crossed by several 



sis) is a larger dark-colored subspecies, inhabit- 

 ing southeastern Alaska from Yakutat Bay to the 

 Sitka Islands. R. I. Brasher. 



From its abundance, wide distribution, and 

 striking appearance the Red-tailed Hawk is 

 probably the best known of all the larger Hawks. 

 Since it is handicapped by the misleading name 

 " Hen Hawk," its habits should be carefully ex- 

 amined. There is no denying that both it and the 

 Red-shouldered Hawk, also known as " Hen 

 Hawk," do occasionally eat poultry, but the 

 quantity is so small in comparison with the vast 

 numbers of destructive rodents consumed, that 

 it is hardly worth mentioning. While fully 66 

 per cent, of the Red-tail's food consists of in- 

 jurious mammals, not more than 7 per cent, con- 

 sists of poultry, and it is probable that a large 



