Wise ‘THE RED-SHOULDERED HAWK. 
No. 182. 
RED-SHOULDERED HAWK. 
A. O. U. No. 339. Buteo lineatus (Gmel.). 
Synonyms.—CuIckeEn Hawk; HEN HAwk; RED-SHOULDERED BUZZARD. 
Description.—Adult: Above rich chocolate-brown, fuscous and grayish 
brown, varied by rufous and ochraceous, especially on head and back, and by 
whitish on scapulars and inner quills; lesser wing-coverts extensively rufous, 
forming a red ‘shoulder’; wing-quills and greater coverts dusky-barred and 
white-spotted and -tipped, forming irregular bars; ends of primaries and tail 
principally blackish, the latter crossed by four or five narrow, white bands, and 
tipped with white; upper tail-coverts barred and tipped with white, affording 
occasional suggestion of white rump; four outer primaries deeply emarginate; 
below cinnamon-rufous, paler or whitish on throat and crissum, heavily streaked 
with dusky brown on sides of neck, throat and breast, heavily cross-barred with 
whitish on lower breast, belly, and sides; tibize tawny, indistinctly cross-barred 
with darker rufous; cere and feet chrome yellow; bill blackish; claws black. 
Immature: Different; dark brown or fuscous above, only traces of rufous.—on 
lesser wing-coverts, etc.; wings grayish- or ochraceous-spotted, instead of white; 
quills extensively ochraceous on concealed portions; tail dusky, with seven ot 
eight grayish bars, which become more ochraceous and gradually obsolete basally ; 
below dull white or buffy, heavily streaked and striped, or longitudinally spotted 
with dusky brown; throat and sides of neck dark brown, streaked as in adult 
but with less ochraceous. Plumage subject to considerable variation —fading, 
albinism, melanism, etc. Adult male length 17.50-20.00 (444.5-508.) : wing 12.00- 
13.50 (304.8-342.9) ; tail 7.50-9.50 (190.5-241.3) ; culmen from cere .80 (20.3). 
Adult female length 19.00-22.00 (482.6-558.8) ; wing 13.25-14.25 (336.6-362.) 
tail 8.50-10.00 (215.9-254.). 
Recognition Marks.—Crow size; rufous shoulder distinctive; smailer than 
preceding species, more heavily marked below. The young of this species require 
careful distinction from the young of borealis and platypterus. From the former 
they are distinguished by smaller size, and by being more continuously marked 
below, including shanks (tawny-washed and darker-barred); from the latter 
by larger size and by ochraceous or grayish spotting on primaries. 
Nest, in trees, of sticks, sometimes lined with corn-pith and the like. Eggs. 
3-5, sometimes 6, pale bluish white, with a rough or chalky surface, and spotted 
or blotched with rufous or yellowish brown; occasionally unmarked. Av. size, 
2.14 X 1.67 (54.4 X 42.4). 
General Range.—E astern North America to Manitoba and Nova Scotia; 
west to Texas and the Plains; south to the Gulf States and Mexico. Breeds 
throughout its range. 
Range in Ohio.—Common resident. Retires from the northern portion of the 
state in winter . 
THE common names of the Birds of Prey are sadly confused in Amer- 
ica. We seldom use the noble word Falcon, altho it strictly applies to many 
