THE BIRDS OF NEW JERSEY. 163 



more or less streaked with brown or rufous ; tail, bright rufous, with a dusky 

 sulitermiual band. 



Young in first year. — Similar, but tail brown, barred with dusky ; uuder 

 surface with more brown streaks, but no rufous. 



Nest in tall trees : eggs, two to four, dirty white, slightly marked with rusty 

 brown, 2.35 x 1.80. 



Common resident, but most abundant in winter and during mi- 

 grations. 



This is the common large hawk of the Delaware meadows during 

 the winter, and like its relatives, the Red-shouldered and Broad- 

 winged Hawks, it is a valuable bird to the farmer, destroying thou- 

 sands of meadow mice in winter and grasshoppers in summer. 



Hawks of this and various other kinds often associate in large 

 straggling flocks during the autumn migrations.^ 



339 Buteo lineatus (Gmelin). 

 Red-shouldered Hawk. 



Adults. — Length, 17.50-21. Wing, 12-14. Above, dark brown, edged with 

 grayish, buff and white ; lesser wing-coverts strongly edged with rufous ; under 

 parts, rufous, with narrow white crossbars ; throat, whitish, streaked with 

 dusky ; crissum, white ; tail, dark brown, with distinct, rather narrow white 

 crossbars. 



Young in first year. — Very similar to young of the Red-tail, but usually more 

 regularly streaked below, and always identified by the white spots on the outer 

 edge of the outermost primary, which is uniform brown in the Red-tail. 



Nest in tall trees ; eggs, three to five, dirty white, blotched or streaked with 

 rusty brown or chocolate, 2.15 x 1.75. 



Common resident, but apparently a more common breeder in the 

 northern half of the State. 



Habits similar to those of the Red-tailed Hawk, which it very 

 closely resembles during the first year. 



' Cf. Cassinia, 1904, p. 65 ; Abst. Proc. D. V. O. C, III., p. 11 ; Forest and 

 Stream, 1893, p. 513; Amer. Nat., VIII., p. 338. 



