94 THE CHICAGO ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



appeared toward the north." This species is one of the most 

 beautiful and daring of our hawks. 



Breeding chiefly north of the United States, passing south- 

 ward in winter through the larger portion of the United States. 



Genus BUTEO Cuvier, 1800. 



Buteo borealis (Gmelin). Red-tailed Hawk. 



Falco borealis GMELIN, S. N., I, ii, 1788, 266. 



Buteo borealis VIEILLOT, Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat., IV, 1816, 478. 



Buteo borealis var. borealis B. B. & R., Hist. N. Amer. Birds, III, 



1874, 282. 

 Popular synonyms: CHICKEN HAWK. HEN HAWK. RED-TAILED 



BUZZARD. WHITE-BBEASTED CHICKEN OB HEN HAWK. EASTEBN 



RED-TAILED HAWK. 



This species is a common resident, and is the most common 

 of the larger hawks. It is, however, much more abundant dur- 

 ing its migrations than at other times. In our vicinity it nests 

 as early as the last of February. Mr. B. T. Gault informs me 

 that the striped gopher (Spermophilus tridecemlineatus) seems 

 to constitute a favorite article of the diet of this Hawk, and that 

 he found a freshly killed specimen of that rodent on the edge of 

 a nest which he examined May 10, 1895. 



The range of this species includes the eastern portion of 

 North America from the fur countries south to Guatemala and 

 westward to the Great Plains. 



Buteo borealis kriderii Hoopes. Krider's Hawk. 



Buteo borealis HOOPES, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 1873, 238, 



pi. 5. 

 Popular synonyms : WHITE RED-TAILED HAWK. WHITE HEN HAWK. 



CHICKEN HAWK. 



This species is included in the fauna of our area on the 

 streflgth of a specimen presented to the United States National 

 Museum by Mr. H. K. Coale. It was captured in the vicinity 

 of our area July 25, 1876. Regarding this specimen, Mr. Coale 

 says (Auk, Vol. II, January 1885) : "Referring to my notes, I 

 find that this was one of the large hawks brought into camp by 

 one of our party while on a collecting trip along the Des Plaines 

 River thirty miles from Chicago northwest. It is an adult female 

 and was captured while perched on a stake in a field not far from 

 the big woods at Half Day, Illinois." 



The A. O. U. Check-list gives the following as the range of 

 Krider's Hawk: "Plains of the United States, from Wyoming 



