THE WESTERN RED-TAIL 405 



the other hand, the harmful animals and insects which this hawk destroys far 

 overbalance the depredations upon poultry. It is no more fair that all hawks 

 should be killed because one occasionally destroys chickens than it is to kill all 

 cats because one sometimes becomes a chicken killer. 



The cry of Red-tail is unlike that of any other of the hawks, and may 

 become a certain mark of identification during the late winter and early spring 

 weeks. It is a long-drawn scream of warning and defiance, given on a 

 descending scale. It is harsh and piercing, and commanding, uttered when 

 danger threatens, when a rival for his lady's affections appears, and often 

 when the mating season begins. Its character is unmistakable. Blue Jay 

 cannot successfully imitate it, because his lungs lack the capacity. 



LYNDS JONES 



No. 181. 



WESTERN RED-TAIL. 



A. O. U. No. 337b. Buteo borealis calurus (Cass.). 



Description. Adult : Plumage chiefly blackish, sometimes uniform sooty, 

 except tail and its upper coverts ; individually variable between form nearly as 

 light as B. borealis and deepest sooty brown ; breast usually extensively rufous, and 

 lower belly with more or less white, but these colors obliterated in completely 

 melanistic specimens ; tail as in borealis, with a conspicuous black subtermirial 

 bar and often with several more or less complete additional bars. Immature : 

 As in borealis but darker throughout and more heavily spotted below ; the plumage 

 (except tail) sometimes wholly dusky as in adult (Ridgway). Size as in preced- 

 ing form. 



Recognition Marks. Like Buteo borealis but more heavily colored. 



Nest and Eggs as in B. borealis. 



General Range. "Western North America from the Rocky Mountains to the 

 Pacific, south into Mexico; casual east to Illinois." (A. O. U.). 



Range in Ohio. Accidental. One record. 



.A specimen in the O. S. U. collection is labelled "Buteo calurus, Red-tailecl 

 Blackhawk, Adult male, November 20, 1875, Franklin County, Ohio." and 

 bears the signature of Dr. Jasper. The bird is a handsome and strongly marked 

 example but lacks the additional barring of the tail which is usually present or at 

 least indicated. Nothing further is known of the circumstances attending its 

 occurrence. 



