RED-SHOULDERED HAWK 



339. Buteo lineatus. 19 in. 



Adults with the shoulders bright reddish-brown: 

 primaries and secondaries barred with black and white; 

 below buffy thickly barred with rusty-brown. Young 

 with the shoulders duller; underparts white, streaked 

 all over with blackish-brown. This is one of the most 

 abundant of the birds of prey in Eastern United States, 

 and it is also one of the most useful, destroying quan- 

 tities of moles and field mice, as well as grasshoppers. 

 Usually one or more pairs will be found in a piece of 

 woods. One pair that I know, and I presume it is 

 the same pair, each year has its nest on the edge of a 

 colony of Black-crowned Night Herons and, during the 

 season, they live and feed their young largely upon the 

 young of these birds. 



Nest. Of sticks, lined witn weeds and strips of bark; 

 eggs white, blotched with brown (2.15x1.75). April. 

 May. 



Range. Breeds from the Gulf to Maine and Minne- 

 sota. 339a. Fla. Red-Shouldered Hawk, found in Flor- 

 ida and north to So. Car., is paler colored. 



