472 



BIRDS OF ILLINOIS. 



which pursued it on all occasions. It had been seen to pounce 

 upon a fowl, kill it almost instantly, and afterward drag it along 

 the ground several hundred yards. It was not seen to prey on 

 hares or squu-rels, but seemed to e^^nce a marked preference for 

 poultry, partridges, and the smaller species of wQd duck. He saw 

 none of the young, but was told that they appeared to be of a 

 leaden gray color at a distance, and at the approach of ■winter be- 

 came as dark as their parents." (Hist. N. Am. B. Vol. III., pp. 

 294, 295.) 



A fine adult male of this rare species was taken by Mr. Chas. 

 K. "Worthen, near Warsaw, Hancock county, in March, 1879. "Two 

 of them were seen at the time, flying up the Mississippi river, 

 apparently following the flight of water-fowl which were then com- 

 ing north in great numbers." 



Buteo lineatus (Gmel.) 



KED-SHOULDERED HAWK. 



Popular synonyms. Hen Hawk; Chicken Hawk. 



Falco lineahis Gmel. S. N. 1, 1788. 2C8.— WiLS. Am. Orn. I. 1808. pi. 53. ng. 3.— AuD. Orn. 

 BiOK. i, 1831. 296. 

 Buteo lineatus Jaed. 1832.— Aud. Synop. 1839, 7.— Cass, in Baird's B. N. Am. 1858. 28.— 

 Baied, Cat. N. Am. B. 1859. No. 25.— CouES. Key. 1872. 217: Check List. lS74.No. 352; 

 2d ed. 1882. No. 520; B. N. W. 1874. 354.— B. B. & R. Hist N. Am. B. iii, 1874. 275 (var. 

 imcahis).— Eedgw. Nom. N. Am. B. 1881, No. 439. 

 Falco buteoides Nutt. Man. i, 1832,100. 

 Hab. Eastern North America, from the British Provinces to Florida, and west to the 

 Great Plains; Texas and eastern Mexico to Orizaba. (Represented in California and 

 western Mexico by B. lineatus elegans.) Accidental in Scotland. 



Sp. Chae. Adult male (No. 32.500. Washington, D. C, January). Head, neck, and in- 

 terscapulars deep rufous (above becoming darker posteriorly), each feather with a 

 median stripe of blackish brown. Throat and cheeks almost destitute of rufous tinge, 

 the ground being dull white,— the dusky forming an indistinct "mustache," and an 

 imperfect, obsolete collar (formed by confluent, or suffused .streaks) across the throat. 

 Breast, sides, abdomen, and tibiie rather light rufous, becoming paler posteriorly; breast 

 with shaft-streaks of blackish; the rufous of sides of breast almost unvaried; abdomen, 

 sides, and middle of the breast, with transverse bars of ochraceous white; tibiffi uniform 

 pale ochraceous; anal region and lower tail-coverts, immaculate white. Lesser wing- 

 coverts chestnut rufous, feathers with black shaft streaks, these becoming larger pos- 

 teriorly ; scapulars and middle wing-coverts edged broadly with rufous, and indistinctly 

 spotted on inner webs with white— this somewhat exposed; secondaries dark clear brown, 

 tipped and crossed with two (exposed) bands of white; primaries black, fading at tips in- 

 to dilute grayish brown, and with quadrate spots of white on outer webs. Rump uni- 

 form blackish brown; upper tail-coverts tipped and banded with black. Tail clear brown- 

 ish black, crossed with six sharply defined narrow bands of white, the last of which is 

 terminal, and the first two concealed by the upper coverts. Lining of the wing nearly 

 uniform pale rufous, with very sparse, deeper rufous, somewhat transverse spots; 

 under surface of primaries silvery white, crossed by broad bands, these where the white 



