THE BED-TAILED HAWK. 35 



BUTEO BOEEALIS. Vieilkt. 



X The Red-tailed Hawk. 



Fako borealis, Leverianus, and Jamaicensis, Gm. Syst. Nat., I. 266 (1788). 



Falco aquilinus, Bartram. Trav., p. 290 (1791). 



Buteo ferrugineicaudus, Vieillot. Ois. d'Am. Sept., I. 32 (1807). 



Accipiler ruficaudus, Vieillot. Ois. d'Am. Sept., I. 43 (1807). 



Buteo fulvous and Americanus, Vieillot. Nouv. Diet, IV. 472, 477 (1816). 



DESCRIPTION. 



Adult. Tail bright rufous, narrowly tipped with white, and having a subtermi- 

 nal 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 tibiae 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, and 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 with a wide 

 irregular band on the abdomen, composed of spots of the same color; under tail 

 coverts and tibiae with irregular transverse stripes and sagittate spots of dark-brown ; 

 bill, blue-black; cere and sides of the mouth, yellow tinged with green; legs yellow; 

 iris pale amber. 



Total length of female, about twenty-three inches; wing, fifteen to sixteen 

 inches ; tail, eight and a half inches. Male, nineteen to twenty-one inches ; wing, 

 fourteen inches ; tail, seven and a half to eight inches. 



The Red-tailed Hawk is a common resident of all the 

 New-England States throughout the year. Its habits are 

 so well known that a description here is hardly needed. 

 Every one has noticed this hawk up in the air, at a consider- 

 able height, soaring in extended circles, and uttering the 

 oft-repeated cry, kae, hae, kae, as he examines the earth 

 beneath him for prey. Audubon was of the opinion, that 

 the bird emitted this shriek for the purpose of attracting the 

 notice of birds and animals beneath, and causing them to 

 fly to a place of concealment, thus giving him a knowledge 

 of their whereabouts. This supposition is not improbable ; 

 for he is often observed descending with great rapidity 

 towards a bird that has taken flight at his outcries. 



