1 86 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 



83. Buteo borealis (Gmel). 

 Red-tailed Hawk. Hen Hawk. 



Transient visitor in spring and autumn, locally resident in winter ; formerly very common, 

 now of comparatively rare occurrence. 



.SEASONAL OCCURRENCE. 



October 10 — April 20. (Summer?) 



Up to about 1880 the Red-tailed Hawk was decidedly the most numerously 

 represented of our Buteos in autumn, winter and early spring. It may still be 

 seen at these seasons, but only in greatly diminished numbers and much less 

 often than the Red-shouldered Hawk. So far as I have been able to ascertain, 

 it has never been found breeding within tlie limits of the Cambridge Region, 

 although I have taken the eggs in Bedford and have seen young birds in early 

 summer near Concord. 



The Red-tailed Hawk used to occur most commonly in April and Novem- 

 ber, when the migrations were passing. Its favorite haunts were Rock Meadow, 

 the Fresh Pond Swamps and the extensive open fields and meadows between 

 Hill's Crossing and Belmont. Until very recently one or two birds were always 

 to be found in winter near the Cambridge Cemetery and the Watertown Arsenal 

 on the borders of the Charles River Marshes, where they preyed on the rats and 

 meadow mice which frequented the banks of the tidal creeks and ditches. 



[Buteo cooperi Cass. Cooper's Henhawk. California Hawk. In November, 1866, a 

 large light-colored Hawk was repeatedly seen in or near the Pine Swamp. It looked so very 

 white, especially when flying, that I suspected it might be a Gyrfalcon. For a time all my 

 attempts to secure it proved unavailing, for it was exceedingly shy; but at length — on the 17th 

 of the month — I surprised and shot it among some dense pines near Pout Pond. The specimen 

 was shown, about three years later, to Dr. J. A. Allen who identified it as Buteo cooperi Cassin, 

 and under that title recorded its capture in his ' Notes on some of tlie Rarer Birds of Massachu- 

 setts,' (American Naturalist, Vol. Ill, 1870, p. s'S). Immediately after this Mr. Maynard 

 published a detailed description of the bird, at the same time expressing a conviction that it 

 was merely an exceptionally light-colored example of the Red-shouldered Hawk.' This ruling 

 was confirmed a little later by Mr. Ridgway ^ to whom the specimen was sent for examination 



' C. J. Maynard, Naturalist's Guide, iSyo, 135-136. 



- Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway, History of North American Birds, III, 1874, 296. 



