HAWKS 227 



degree. Capt. Spinney has recorded this species as taking 

 "decoy" Ducks. They build a large bulky nest of sticks, twigs 

 and bark, lined with bark and twigs. Usually in Maine they 

 select a poplar, birch or ash as a nesting site, though using 

 occasionally almost any tree available, and placing the nest 

 from thirty to seventy feet up, generally in rather open swampy 

 woods. 



Two to four eggs are laid, perhaps more often two with us, 

 and these are white, more or less spotted and blotched with 

 yellowish, reddish and cinnamon brown. A nest taken May 

 6, 1895, was in an elm tree sixty feet from the ground. The 

 nest was the usual bulky affair of sticks, lined with dry leaves 

 and bark, and was three and a half feet in diameter. The 

 cavity containing the eggs was four and a half inches deep. 

 The three eggs measure 2.27 x 1.82, 2.27 x 1.77, 2.29 x 1.83. 



When a nest is occupied a smart rap on the trunk of the 

 tree will usually drive off the parent bird which hangs around 

 in the vicinity occasionally uttering a screeching squeal. If 

 the nest is climbed to the bird may get more vociferous and 

 occasionally swoop down toward the intruder, while often the 

 bird's mate arrives on the scene to add his notes of displeasure. 



The eggs are usually laid in late April or early May, and 

 only one brood is reared. The same nest is usually occupied 

 for many consecutive seasons, though in some instances there 

 are two or three nests in the vicinity which the birds may 

 occupy from season to season according to taste. The young 

 are covered with white down. 



339. Buteo Uneatns (Gmel.). Red-shouldered Hawk; 

 Winter Falcon. Chicken Hawk. 



Plumage of adults : lesser wing coverts rufous ; above grayish brown, the 

 feathers edged with rufous and whitish; the four outer primaries notched; 

 all primaries barred with black and white; tail blackish with white bars, 

 white tipped ; throat streaked darkish ; below rufous, barred with whitish. 

 Immature plumage : tail grayish brown, rather dimly barred with fuscous 

 and more or less rufous ; lesser wing coverts rufous margined ; underneath 



