82 THE BIRDS OF NEW JERSEY. 



white, with irregular specks and blotches of brownish 

 gray or grayish brown; they are oblong, being equally 

 thick at both ends, and one and one-fifth by four-fifths of 

 an inch in size. 



The birds spread themselves over the whole of Eastern 

 North America, arriving from the West Indies and 

 Mexico about the first of May and returning about the 

 middle of October. 



Their cry is a squeak, peent, uttered either singly or in 

 rapid succession; as they swoop down, frequently eighty 

 or a hundred feet, and then sail off, they make a noise 

 like the blowing into the bunghole of a hogshead. 



Their food consists of wasps, beetles, flies and the 

 larger insects; they are very fond of crickets. 



The name u Hawk" is entirely a misnomer, as the bird 

 is in no way related to the Hawks, its nearest relative be- 

 ing the Whip-poor-will, a species with which it is often 

 confused, though they are quite distinct. 



Hatrl*\ Red- Shouldered, Hen Hawk or Chicken 

 Hawk. Length, eighteen inches; extent, three feet; 

 above, brown, the feathers edged with rusty and sparing- 

 ly spotted with white; wing feathers dark brown, spotted 

 on the outer webs with white; inner webs on basal portion 

 white, barred with brown; tail, dark brown, with four 

 narrow white bars and a dull white tip. Under surface 

 transversely barred with rusty and white, sometimes with 

 a few longitudinal brown stripes. Young birds are brown 

 above with slight white mottling; below, white, streaked 

 all over with oval longitudinal spots; tail, dark brown, 

 with five or six buff bars becoming indistinct toward the 

 tip. 



The nest is built in April or May in trees thirty to sixty 

 feet from the ground, composed of a foundation of sticks 

 with an upper story of soft bark. The eggs are from 

 three to six in number, two and one-fifth inches by one 

 and three-fifths, of a dull white color with brown spots. 



