360 LAND-BIRDS AND GAME-BIRDS 



V. BUTEO 



(A) BOREALIS. Red-tailed Hawk (or Buzzard}. (Eastern) 

 " Red-tail." " Hen Hawk." 



(In Massachusetts, a resident throughout the year, but less 

 common than the next species.) 



(a). Extreme length, nearly two feet. Above, dark brown, 

 marked with fulvous (chiefly on the head), and with white 

 (chiefly behind). Tail, chestnut-red, tipped with white, and 

 sub-tipped with black, but beneath of a uniform silvery gray. 

 Under parts, white (or tinged), marked with a varying shade of 

 brown, which generally forms an interrupted band across the 

 lower breast. A fine immature specimen, now before me, is 

 more than two feet in length. Above, dark umber, more or 

 less interrupted by white, chiefly on the tail-coverts. Beneath, 

 white; sides blotched with umber-brown, forming a dark zone 

 across the lower breast. Feathers of the thigh spotted or im- 

 perfectly barred with a lighter shade. Tail, medium brown 

 (often tinged with gray, but here with chestnut), barred with 

 blackish, tipped with whitish ; beneath, light gray, and faintly 

 barred. 



(b). The nest does not differ from that of the Red-shoul- 

 dered Hawk, unless in being sometimes less well lined, occa- 

 sionally rather less accessible, and more often built in dry 

 woods. For a description of the eggs, see B, b. 



(c). The Red-tailed Buzzards are the most majestic of our 

 hawks, though surpassed by many in activity and speed. They 

 are in southern New England resident throughout the year, 

 but are said to occur to the northward only during the summer- 

 season. Except in winter, they are much less common than 

 the Red-shouldered Hawk, whose habits are so very similar, 

 that I shall abbreviate this biography, and refer my readers to 

 the next. They sometimes sail even a mile without moving 

 the wings, or mount in circles till nearly lost to sight, but they 

 are ordinarily dependent upon the impetus given by occasional 

 flappings. They feed upon large birds, rabbits, squirrels, 

 snakes, frogs, etc., and not unfrequently fall upon their prey 



