‘THE WESTERN RED-TAIL. 505 
ochraceous ; markings on sides of breast and belly blackish, clear-cut; tail entirely 
different,—grayish brown crossed by nine or ten distinct narrow bands of 
blackish. ] 
Description.—Adult: Plumage chiefly blackish, sometimes uniform sooty, 
except tail and its upper coverts; individually variable between form nearly as 
light as B. borealis and deepest sooty brown; breast usually extensively rufous, 
and lower belly with more or less white, but these colors obliterated in completely 
melanistic specimens ; tail as in borealis, with a conspicuous black subterminal bar 
and often with several more or less complete additional bars. Jimmature: As in 
borealis but darker thruout and more heavily spotted below; the plumage (except 
tail) sometimes wholly dusky as in adult. Adult male, length: 109.00-22.50 
(482.6-571.5); wing 15.25 (387.4); tail 9.25 (235); culmen from cere about 
1.00 (25.4) ; tarsus 3.00 (76.2). Adult female, length: 22.50-25.00 (571.5-635) ; 
wing 17.00 (431.8) ; tail 10.00 (254) ; culmen I.10 (27.9) ; tarsus 3.30 (83.8). 
Recognition Marks.—Crow to Brant size; red tail of adult distinctive; 
stouter proportions and more regal bearing as compared with B. swainsonii. 
Nesting.—Nest: a mass of sticks indifferently lined, or not at all, placed on 
ledges of cliffs (East-side) or high in trees; sometimes an old Crow’s nest is 
refitted. Eggs: 2-4, bluish white, stained, spotted, or blotched with reddish brown, 
or, rarely, immaculate. Av. size, 2.40x 1.83 (61x 46.5). Season: April; one 
brood. 
General Range.—Western North America, chiefly within the United States, 
from the Plains to the Pacific and south to Guatemala. 
Range in Washington.—Fast-side, common summer resident; West-side, 
not common summer resident, and casual resident in winter. 
Authorities.—Buteo montanus, Newberry, Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv. V1. pt. IV. 
S75, Ds Eo (a Chase ILS IDM (Sigs Iain IDE. Sie Gece Ike I 1B 1BP 
Specimens.—(U. of W.) Prov. B. 
A “BURKE’S PEERAGE” of the birds might not mention the Buteos 
under the head of royalty—Falco and Aquila are the autocrats par excellence— 
but Red-tail’s patent of nobility is very ancient, and is based upon the same 
claims as those which human lords have set up; viz., a predatory ancestry, 
unbroken possession of certain broad acres for many centuries, and a frown- 
ing castle upon some sightly hill. In this last respect the bird is not sur- 
passed, in Washington at least, by that arrogant old Hapsburg, the Prairie 
Falcon himself—of whom anon. 
As to the broad acres, chiefly game preserves (to carry out the whimsy ), 
the royal claim comes first (because, forsooth, the Falcon is the swifter bird) ; 
and there is always a horde of retainers—Sparrow Hawks, Burrowing Owls, 
Magpies, and Ravens—to consider, before the overlord may count his yearly 
rental of ground-squirrels, rabbits, mice, snakes, lizards, and the lesser fry. 
Moreover, in these evil days, the pirate Danes have swept down on the Red- 
tail’s coasts, have torn his acres with the plow and have burnt his gopher 
fields with fire. Worst of all, these ruthless invaders, having no use them- 
