AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 265 



REDxTAILED HAWK. 



A. O. V. No. 337. (Bnteo borealis.) 



RANGE. 



Found through southern Canada and the United States east of the 

 Plains. Breeds throughout its range except in the extreme southern 

 portions. This species is subdivided into the following varieties: — 

 337a. Krider's Hawk (B. b. kriderii). Found in the Plains in the 

 middle portions of the U. S. 337b, Western Red-tail (B. b. calurus). 

 North America west of the Rockies. 337c, St. Lucas Red-tail (B. b. 

 lucasanus.) Peninsula of Lower California. 337d, Harlan's Hawk 

 (B. b. harlani.) The lower Mississippi valley along the Gulf coast 

 north casually to the middle portions of the U. S. 

 DESCRIPTION. 



Length about 22 inches; extent about 50 inches; tail 9.5 inches. 

 Eyes, brown. Cere and feet, yellow. Upper parts, brownish black, the 

 feathers being generally edged with lighter. Under parts white tinged 

 with buffy. A broad zone of dark markings crosses the abdomen and 

 the color of the upper parts is continued around the throat. The tail 

 is a rich reddish chestnut with a narrow white tip and a broader sub- 

 terminal bar of black. The young birds are similar in plumage ex- 

 cept that the tail is gray and is crossed by ei^ht or ten black bars. 

 Krider's Hawk is a light form of the above and is entirely white below. 

 The Western Red-tail varies from about the typical form of the eastern 

 to a uniform dark sooty brown, and the tail is generally banded. Har- 

 lan's Hawk varies from the typical Red-tail to nearly black and the 

 tail is mottled with rusty, white and dusky. 



NEST AND EGGS. 



The Red-tail places its bulky nest w^ell up in the high trees of dense 



