BIRDS OF NEW YORK 8l 



Buteo borealis borealis (Gmelin) 

 Red-tailed Hawk 



Plates 43, 46 and 47 



Falco borealis Gmelin. Syst. Nat. 1 788. i : 266 

 Buteo borealis DcKay. Zool. N. Y. 1844. pt 2, p. 9, fig. 17 

 Buteo borealis borealis A. O. U. Check List. Ed. 3. 1910. p. 157. 

 No. 337 



buteo, Lat., a buzzard; borealis, Lat., northern 



Description. Our typical and commonest buzzard hawk, character- 

 ized by heavy build, long and broad wings, wide spreading tail of medium 

 length, 4 primaries notched; a large hawk of high, soaring, circling flight 

 and conspicuous perches, commonly but improperly called Hen hawk. 

 Adult: Upper parts dark brown, more or less variegated with whitish 

 and ocherous buff; tail bright rujous or brick red with a narrow subterminal 

 band of blackish and tipped with whitish; under parts white more or less 

 tinged with buffy and variegated with blackish, especially across the fore 

 breast and on the flanks and abdominal zone, the throat, middle of breast, 

 crissum, and tibiae being mostly unmarked; iris brown, bill horn color, 

 legs yellow. Immature: Tail gray with numerous blackish bands; body 

 colors similar to adult but lacking fulvous markings above and buffy tinge 

 below; the dark markings below heavier forming a dark abdominal zone but 

 leaving a large unmarked whitish area on the breast; iris yellow. 



Length cf 19-21 inches, 9 22-24; extent cf 46-50, 9 52-56; wing c? 

 13.50-16, 9 15-17.50; tail 8.50-10.50; tarsus 3-3.40; middle toe 1.60-1.85; 

 weight 3-4 pounds. 



Distribution. The Red-tailed hawk inhabits eastern North America 

 from the Gulf States to Northern Canada, being partially migratory in 

 the northern states and only a summer resident in the boreal region. It 

 is quite generally distributed in New York, breeding in all parts of the 

 State and wintering sparingly in the warmer counties. During March and 

 October large numbers pass through our State on their migrations, the 

 movement beginning from February 20 to March 10 and ending from April 

 i to 20, migrants often being seen in numbers, near Rochester at least, 

 after the summer residents have eggs well advanced in incubation. In 

 our State this hawk nests both in swampy woods and on rugged gullies 

 and hillsides, but on the whole, in western New York, seems to prefer 



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