JBUTEO L1NEATUS. 311 



DIMENSIONS. 



.\\i-rage measurements of f 'i:ul -sji eimcns from Eastern North America. Length, 22'74; stretch, 51'98; wing, 15-26; 

 till,!) !.">; Kill, 1-12; tiuv.is. J-S">. 1, >n^'-t specimen, 23'5'2; greatest extent of wing, 53' 16; longest wing, 15-75; tail, 10'12; 

 I ill, 1-0; firsas, 3 15. Shortest spi'riuimi, ii'00; smallest extent of wing, 51'06; shortest wing, 15'12; tail,8'95; bill, TOO; 

 tarsia, 'J'7'i. 



AveraLV measurements of male specimens from Eastern North America. Length, 20'55; stretch, 46'15; wing, 14'50; 

 tail, 8 50; bill, T0.5; tarsu<. ->(;"). I, in^.'-t specimen, 21" 12; greatest extent of wing, 48-15; longest wing, 1500; tail, 8'95; 

 bill, 1-15; tar-us, J 75. Shortest specimen, 20'00; smallest extent of wing, 45 00; shortest wing, 14'85; tail, 8'00; bill, '98; 

 tarsas, 2'50. 



HABITS. 



Audubon discovered the fine Hawk which we now have under consideration, fifty 

 years ago in Louisiana and named it in honor of his friend, Dr. Richard Harlan of Phila- 

 delphia. Two specimens were secured by the great ornithologist at that time, both of 

 which were presented to the British Museum, but one was subsequently lost. The remain- 

 ing specimen was, for a long time, the only one in existence and the validity of the species 

 was doubted by many of the more recent writers upon ornithology, but was fully re-estab- 

 lished by Mr. Ridgway in North American Birds, in 1874, and I fully endorse this latter 

 named gentleman when- he says that it is "a most excellent species". There is a speci- 

 men in the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences, obtained some years ago, if I remember 

 rightly, in Pennsylvania. An adult male was taken in Kansas about 1872 and two have 

 been secured in Texas since that time, one of which is now in the possession of Mr. Will- 

 iam Brewster. I have a fine adult female which was shot by Mr. Walter Van Fleet in 

 Watsontown, Pennsylvania, on the thirtieth of March, 1875. This bird was sitting on the 

 top of a high tree at long gun-shot distance from a road', along which its captor was walk- 

 ing, when he observed it; but, thinking it was a common Red-tail, he fired a careless shot 

 at it, which by good fortune, brought it down. Mr. Van Fleet afterward saw the mate in 

 the vicinity but was unable to secure it. Mr. Greene Smith of Peterborough, New York, 

 also has a fine specimen of the dark type in his collection. This specimen, as seen by the 

 above, makes the seventh which has been captured to my knowledge and one of these, Au- 

 dubon's, has been lost. I have, however, heard of others but will venture to state that, at 

 the present time, January, 1880, there are not a dozen birds of this species in existence 

 in collections. As may readily be inferred, but little is known of the habits of Harlan's 

 Hawk but they doubtless closely resemble the Red-tail in this respect. The nest and eggs 

 are also unknown. 



BUTEO LINEATUS. 



Red-shouldered Hawk. 



Butco lincatus AUD. Syn. Birds, N. A.; 1830, 7. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Sr. Cn. Form, robu-t. Sine, medium. Sternum, stout, not very narrow, with themnrginal indentations quite small. 

 e, quite fleshy, rounded and slightly bifid at tip. Coeca, present but small. Tarsus, feathered in front for less than 

 half its length. Four outer quills are incised on the inner webs. Sexes, similar in color. 



