RED-TAILED BUZZARD— HEN HAWK. 51 



particulars respecting the flight and habits of the Red-tail. This 

 writer I observe also mentions its habit of squatting on the long 

 grass. He says : " Sometimes you see one sitting for a long time 

 motionless and erect in the tall grass, watching like a cat, or 

 perhaps walking slowly with side-long motion. At this season 

 (winter) it feeds exclusively on mice and rats ; in early spring on 

 toads, frogs, snakes, and the like. I doubt if it ev^er attacks birds, 

 for in about a dozen specimens examined at different seasons I 

 have never been able to detect any of their remains ; nor have 

 I ever seen it pursue one. Occasionally a wounded quail or snipe 

 may fall a prey, but such cases must be rare." This last statement, 

 however, does not hold good for the Red-tail when with us, for I 

 have found in the stomachs of several individuals the remains of 

 sparrows, woodpeckers, grouse, and other birds which I could not 

 determine ; as well as the remains of small green frogs. Mr. 

 Brewster also remaiks upon the cry of the Red-tail, comparing it 

 to the syllables crce-e-e ! cree-e-ep ! repeated five or six times, and 

 very different he says from the shrill loke-e-eo ! of the Red-should- 

 ered Hawk, so often mimicked by the Jays. 



The Red-tail breeds in a number of localities on the island 

 of Montreal ; also on Nun's Island in the St. Lawrence, near that 

 city. 



Sp. Char. Adult. Tail bright rufous, narrowly tipped with white, and having a subter- 

 minal band of black ; entire upper parts dark umber brown, lighter and with fulvous edgings on 

 the head and neck ; upper tail coverts yellowish-white, with rufous and brown spots and bands ; 

 throat white, with narrow longitudinal stripes of brown; other under parts pale yellowish white 

 with longitudinal lines and spots of reddish brown tinged with fulvous, most numerous on the 

 breast, and forming an irregular band across the abdomen ; under tail coverts and tibire generally 

 clear yellowish white unspotted, but the latter frequently spotted and transversely barred with 

 light rufous ; under surface of tail silvery white. 



Young, Tail usually ashy brown, with numerous bands of a darker shade of the same color, 

 narrowly tipped with white ; upper tail coverts white with bands of dark brown ; other upper parts 

 dark umber brown, many feathers edged with dull white and with partially concealed spots of 

 white ; entire under parts white, sides of the breast with large ovate spots of brownish-black, and 

 a wide irregular band on the abdomen composed of spots of the same color ; under tail coverts and 

 tibia; with irregular transverse stripes and sagittate spots of dark brown. 



Total length — Female : 22 to 25 inches ; wing, 15 to 16 inches ; tail, S'i inches. 



" Male : 19 to 20 " ; wing, 14 " ; tail, 7/2 to S inches. 



Iiis brown ; bill bluish ; cere and feet yellow. Young, bill horn-black ; feet greenish. 



