THE RED-SHOULDER ED HAWK. 



No. 182. 

 RED-SHOULDERED HAWK. 



K. 0. U. No. 339. Buteo lineatus ( Gmel.). 



Synonyms.— Chicken Hawk; HEN Hawk; RED-SHOULDERED Ih z/akr 

 Description. — Adult : Above rich chocolate-brown, fuscous and grayish 

 lin>wn, varied! by rufous and ochraceous, especially mi head and hack, and by 

 whitish "ii scapulars and inner quills; lesser wing-covert- extensively rufous, 

 forming a red "shoulder'"; wing-quills and greater coverts dusky-barred and 

 white-spotted and -tipped, forming irregular bars: ends of primaries and tail 

 principally blackish, the latter crossed by four or five narrow, white hands, and 

 tipped with white: upper tail-coverts barred and tipped with white, affording 

 occasional suggestion of white rump; four outer primaries deeply emarginate; 

 below cinnamon-rufous, paler or whitish on throat and crissum, heavily streaked 

 with dusk) brown on side.- of neck, throat and breast, heavily cross-barred with 

 whitish on lower breast, belly, and sides; tibiae tawny, indistinctly cross-barred 

 witli darker rufous; cere and feet chrome yellow; hill blackish: claws black. 

 Immature: Different; dark brown or fuscous above, only traces of rufous. — on 

 lesser wing-coverts, etc.; wings grayish- or ochraceous-spotted, instead of white; 





below dull white or buffy, heavily streaked and striped, or longitudinally spotted 

 with dusky brown; throat and -ides of neck dark brown, streaked as in adult 

 hut with less ochraceous. Plumage subject to considerable variation. — fading. 

 albinism, melanism, etc. Adult male length 17.50-20.00 (444.5-508.) : wing 12.00- 

 l 3-5° (304.8-342.9); tail 7.50-9.50 (190.5-241.3); culnien front cere .80 (20.3). 

 Adult female length [9.00-22.00 (482.6-558.8); wing 13.25-14.25 1336.6-362.) 

 tail 8.50-IO.OO ( 215.9-254. I. 



Recognition Marks. — Crow size; rufous shoulder distinctive; smaller than 

 preceding species, more heavily marked below. The young of this species require 

 careful distinction from the young of borealis and platypterus. From the former 

 thi are distinguished b\ -mailer size, and by being more continuously marked 

 below, including shanks (tawny-washed and darker-barred); from the latter 

 by larger size and by ochraceous or grayish spotting 011 primaries. 



Nest, in trees, of sticks, sometimes lined with corn-pith and the like. Eggs. 

 3-5, sometimes 0, pale bluish white, with a rough or chalky surface, and spotted 

 or blotched with rufous or yellowish brown; occasionally unmarked. Av. size, 

 2.14 x [.67 1 54.4 x 42.4). 



General Range. — Eastern North America to Manitoba and Nova Scotia; 

 wesl to Texas and the 1'lains: south to the Cult" States and Mexico. Breeds 

 throughout its range. 



Range in Ohio. — Common resident. Retires from the northern portion of the 

 State 'ti w inter . 



THE common names of the Birds of Prey are sadly confused in Amer- 

 ica. We seldom use the noble word Falcon, altho it strictly applies to many 



