HAWKS OF THE CANADIAN PRAIRIE PROVINCES. 5 



diurnal hunter, it seems that most of the blame falls rightfully on the 

 Goshawk. 



The adult Goshawk (Plate I B) is easily recognized. It is a large 

 hawk (length 22 inches), slate grey all over, vermiculated across the 

 breast with many fine, dark zigzag lines. The young of the year is more 

 difficult to recognize and resembles several other species in general style 

 of coloration. All the accipiters in this plumage are very similar and 

 are most easily separated from each other by size. They are brown 

 above, nearly white below, with many narrow, sharp, dark stripes 1 , 

 beginning at the throat and covering all the underparts. There are 

 several light bars across the tail and numerous finer ones displayed 

 on the underside of the spread wing. Several other hawks of entirely 

 different economic status have a similar juvenile pattern, but in no 

 common 'hawk are the stripings below as sharp, regular, and evenly 

 distributed as in these species. 



The Sharp-shinned and Cooper's Hawks (Plate II A) though 

 similar to the Goshawk in the younger stages are different when adult, but 

 are so much like each other as to be scarcely separable by plumage 

 characters. The old birds are dull slate blue above and white below, 

 with the breast and flanks heavily barred with narrow, wavy lines 

 of dull reddish. These two when adult and all three in juvenility are 

 most easily told apart by size. The Sharp-shinned is very little larger 

 than a robin in actual size (length 11|-13| inches) though looking some- 

 what larger in life owing to large wings and tail. The Goshawk is some- 

 what larger than a crow (length 22-24 inches) and the Cooper's Hawk 

 (length 15|-19 inches) is intermediate between the Goshawk and the 

 Sharp-shinned. As the females of all the hawks are larger than the 

 males a large female of a small species may be almost as large as a smalt 

 male of the next larger one. However, all three are equally obnoxious 

 in proportion to their size and little mistake can be made in killing any 

 of them. 



BUTEOS AND ROUGH-LEGS. 



The Buteos, Buzzards, or Sluggard Hawks, and the Rough-legs 

 represented by four species, the Red-tailed, Swainson's, American 

 Rough-legged, and Ferruginous Rough-legged Hawks are all hawks 

 of the largest size and have with very little reason been blamed for the 

 destruction caused by the accipiters. They are birds of the open and 

 are- aften seen sailing high in the air where their rounded wings and 

 broad spread tails make them usually quite recognizable as a class. 

 When hunting they come lower down, sailing and leisurely flapping over 

 'Stripes run lengthwise of the body ; bars run across it. 



