THE WESTERN RED-TAIL 405 
the other hand, the harmful animals and insects which this hawk destroys far 
overbalance the depredations upon poultry. It is no more fair that all hawks 
should be killed because one occasionally destroys chickens than it is to kill all 
cats because one sometimes becomes a chicken killer. 
The cry of Red-tail is unlike that of any other of the hawks, and may 
become a certain mark of identification during the late winter and early spring 
weeks. It is a long-drawn scream of warning and defiance, given on a 
descending scale. It is harsh and piercing, and commanding, uttered when 
danger threatens, when a rival for his lady’s affections appears, and often 
when the mating season begins. Its character is unmistakable. Blue Jay 
cannot successfully imitate it, because his lungs lack the capacity. 
Lynps JONES 
No. 181. 
WESTERN RED-TAIL. 
A. O. U. No. 337b.  Buteo borealis calurus (Cass.). 
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 Jorealis, with a conspicuous black subterminal 
bar and often with several more or less complete additional bars. /mmature: 
As in borealis but darker throughout and more heavily spotted below ; the plumage 
(except tail) sometimes wholly dusky as in adult (Ridgway). Size as in preced- 
ing form. 
Recognition Marks.—Like Buteo borealis but more heavily colored. 
Nest and Eggs as in B. borealis. 
General Range.—‘ Western North America from the Rocky Mountains to the 
Pacific, south into Mexico; casual east to Illinois.” (A. O. U.). 
Range in Ohio.—Accidental. One record. 
A specimen in the O. S. U. collection is labelled “Buteo calwrus, Red-tailed 
Blackhawk, Adult male, November 20, 1875, Franklin County, Ohio.” and 
bears the signature of Dr. Jasper. The bird is a handsome and strongly marked 
example but lacks the additional barring of the tail which is usually present or at 
least indicated. Nothing further is known of the circumstances attending its 
occurrence. 
