130 VERTEBRATES: BIRDS. 



forest, and lays four or five eggs of a dull white color, 

 with brown and black blotches. 



The Western Red-tailed Hawk, B. montanus, Nutt, of 

 Western North America, is closely related to B. borealis, 

 but appears to be somewhat larger. 



The Red-shouldered Hawk, B. lineatus, Jardine, of 

 Eastern and Northern North America, is twenty-one to 

 twenty-three inches long, the wing fourteen inches ; the 

 male eighteen to twenty inches long, and the wing twelve 

 inches. This is one of the most common hawks of the 

 region it inhabits, and is readily distinguished by its wing 

 coverts, which, from the flexure to the body, are bright 

 rufous. The upper parts are brown, the under parts 

 paler orange-rufous, quills brownish-black with white 

 spots on their outer webs, and with bars of a lighter 

 shade of brown, and of white on their inner webs. The 

 tail is brownish-black, with about five transverse bands 

 of white, and tipped with white. This hawk prefers the 

 forest, and generally hunts in pairs. During the spring, 

 especially, its discordant notes may be heard daily. Its 

 nest is made in the top of a large tree ; eggs four to five, 

 granulated, pale blue, faintly blotched with brownish-red 

 at the smaller end. 



The Red-bellied Hawk, B. elegans, Cass., of Western 

 North America, is closely related to B. lineatus. 



The Broad-winged Hawk, B. pennsylvanicus, Bonap., 

 of Eastern North America, is seventeen to eighteen inches 

 long, the wing eleven inches ; the male sixteen inches, 

 and the wing ten. The upper parts are umber-brown, 

 throat white with lines of brown, the breast with a wide 

 band of spots and bands of ferruginous tinged with ashy, 

 and the other under parts white with numerous sagittate 

 spots of reddish. The quills are brownish-black, widely 

 bordered with white on their inner webs, and the tail 

 dark brown, narrowly tipped with white, and with one 



