HAWKS 289 



'chicken-hawk' which is erroneously applied to the bird, wage relentless 

 warfare on it when their militant efforts ought by rights to be directed 

 exclusively against the bullet hawks. Of course an occasional Red-tail, 

 just like an occasional human being, departs from the normal habits of 

 its race and becomes harmful to man's general interests, and may quite 

 properly be given summary treatment. 



In mid-December near Lagrange five old nests of the Red-tail Hawk 

 were found in an earth bluif about 25 feet high. The nests were in open 

 situations about 8 feet below the top of the bluff and probably represented 

 the choices of sites by one pair of hawks through a number of successive 

 years. Under one of them were found the remains of ground squirrels 

 and much 'white-wash' (droppings), which indicated that a brood of 

 young had been reared there earlier in the year. At Mono Meadow on 

 June 16, 1915, a Red-tail was seen frequenting a neighboring ridge; it kept 

 up its cries so continuously as to suggest the presence of a nest in the 

 vicinity. 



The famous "eagle's nest" in Bower Cave is nothing more than a nest 

 of the Red-tailed Hawk. It is situated in a niche of the rock wall below 

 the rim of the cave where, because it is so thoroughly sheltered from the 

 weather, it remains in a fair state of preservation although it has been 

 unused now for many years. 



Red-bellied Hawk. Buteo lineatus elegans Cassin 



Field characters. — Proportions of Eed-tailed Hawk but size much smaller, though 

 larger than Cooper Hawk. Adults have wings and tail sharply barred with blaek and 

 white, and under surface of body bright reddish brown; rest of upper surface mixed 

 dark brown, reddish brown and white. There is no white on rump nor red on tail. 

 Wing beats rapid; course usually low over trees, though at times circling high overhead. 

 Voice: A series of squealing high-pitched notes, Tcer-lcer-Tcer-Tcer, repeated every few 

 seconds. 



Occurrence. — Eesident in moderate numbers in river bottoms of Lower Sonoran 

 Zone. Observed regularly at Snelling. 



As one passes by train along the bottom lands of the Merced River 

 past Snelling to Merced Falls, he may often see close at hand a medium- 

 sized hawk with the striking color combination of a red belly and black 

 and white wings and tail, perched on a post or dead tree. This is the Red- 

 bellied Hawk and this is its accustomed haunt, the willow bottoms. We 

 found it nowhere else in the whole region. Its shrill call is not so high 

 in pitch as that of the Sparrow Hawk, yet it is sharper, shorter, and more 

 insistent than that of the Red-tail. When the Red-bellied Hawk takes 

 wing the observer is able to see plainly the black and white barring of its 

 wings and tail, and to note the rapid wing beats and low direct course of 

 flight off over the fields, so different from the heavier flight and more 

 frequent soaring of its larger relative. 



