THE RED-SHOULDERED HAWK. Bi 
smaller than specimens collected in New England. These 
eggs must have been laid by the 25th of March. In New 
England, they are seldom laid before the last week in April 
to the first week in May. 
BUTEO LINEATUS, — Jardine. 
The Red-shouldered Hawk. 
Falco lineatus and hyemalis, Gm. Syst. Nat., I. 268, 274 (1788). 
Falco buteoides, Nuttall. Man., I. 100 (1st edition, 1832). 
DESCRIPTION. 
Adult. — Wing coverts, from its flexure to the body, fine bright rufous; breast 
and other lower parts of the body paler orange rufous, many feathers with transverse 
bars and spots of white, which predominate on the abdomen and under tail coverts; 
entire upper parts brown; on the head mixed with rufous, and with white spots on 
the wing coverts and shorter quills and rump; quills brownish-black, with white spots 
on their outer webs, and with bars of a lighter shade of brown and of white on 
their inner webs; tail brownish-black, with about five transverse bands of white, 
and tipped with white. 
Young. — Entire upper parts yellowish-white, with longitudinal stripes and 
oblong spots of dark-brown; throat dark-brown; upper parts lighter ashy-brown, 
with many partially concealed spots and bars of white; quills dark-brown, with 
wide transverse bars of rufous and white on both webs; tail ashy-brown, with 
numerous bands of pale-brownish and rufous white; tail beneath silvery-white; 
bill light-blue at the base, bluish-black at the tip; cere, basal margin of the bill, 
edges of the eyelids and the feet, bright-yellow; iris hazel. 
Total length, female, twenty-one to twenty-three inches; wing, fourteen; tail, 
nine inches. Male, eighteen to twenty inches; wing, twelve; tail, eight inches. 
This bird is a rather common resident of all New Eng- 
land throughout the year. Its habits are so nearly like 
those of the preceding, that I can add nothing to that I 
have already written. 
The best account of the bird’s habits in the breeding 
season, that I remember, is given by Audubon. It is as 
follows : — 
“This bird is one of the most noisy of its genus, during spring 
especially, when it would be difficult to approach the skirts of woods 
bordering a large plantation without hearing its discordant shrill 
notes, — ka-hee, ka-hee, —as it is seen sailing in rapid circles at a 
very great elevation. Its ordinary flight is even and protracted, 
