217 



THE OOLOGIST 



The Red-shouldered Hawk. 



In this neighborhood the red-should- 

 ered hawk (Buteo lineatus) is very 

 common. It is the second largest 

 hawk and prefers lowland in the vicin- 

 ity of creeks and swamps rather than 

 the highland, which is more frequent- 

 ed by the red-tailed hawk. 



The picture is taken from Audu- 

 bon's great work in possession of the 

 Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences. 

 The original was painted in London, 

 Bng., in 1837, 74 years ago. It has in 

 this long time not lost any of its orig- 

 inality. 



The breeding range of the red- 

 shouldered hawk extends through 

 Eastern North America from Maine 

 to Florida, and westward to the bord- 

 ers of the great plains. The hawk ar- 

 rives here from the southern parts 

 of the United States in the middle of 

 March and, if possible, occupies its 

 nesting place of former years. The 

 selected trees are birch, ash maple 

 and beech, and quite often elms. The 

 nests generally measure from 18 to 

 24 inches in diameter and five inches 

 in depth. They are placed in a 

 crotch of a tree or against the trunk 

 on limbs growing out from it, at an 

 average height of about 50 feet, 60 

 feet being the highest. The nest is 

 composed of sticks and dry twigs and 

 is lined with birchbark, strips of the 

 inner bark of various trees and hem- 

 lock twigs, the latter invariably in- 

 dicating that it is occupied. The 

 farmers go gunning for these hawks 

 on account of their occasionally cap- 

 turing a young chicken. If they only 

 knew that this hawk destroys princi- 

 pally mice, moles squirrels and young 

 rabbits! 



I have seen one with quite a large 

 snake in its talons fly past me. So, 

 you see, they well repay the farmers 

 for an occasional theft of a young- 

 chicken. In examining 102 stomachs, 



61 contained mice, one poultry and 

 the rest various mammals, reptiles 

 and insects. l 



When they arrive in this locality 

 and have repaired their old nests, 

 they start to lay the eggs, which num- 

 ber mostly three or four — very seldom 

 two eggs. I have a set of five eggs 

 in my collection. In southern locali- 

 ties they hardly ever lay more than 

 three eggs. The ground color of the 

 eggs varies from a dull white to a 

 pale yellowish, or a pale bluish white, 

 and they are smeared, blotched and 

 spotted with different shades of red- 

 dish brown, fawn color, buff and pearl 

 gray. In some eggs the markings are 

 few, but large and bold, in others 

 finer, of smaller size and more pro- 

 fuse. Unspotted eggs are very rare. 

 The average size is 2.15 by 1.75 in- 

 ches. 



An accompanying picture shows a 

 hard climb to the nest on an elm 

 tree 60 feet up to get the camera in 

 position to take a picture of the nesi 

 containing three beautifully colored 

 eggs. When the females are dis- 

 turbed they fly from the nest and 

 circle overhead or perch on a high 

 limb of another tree near at hand and 

 protest in loud screams against the 

 intrusion, but never have I found 

 them to attack the climber. These 

 pictures were taken near Lein's 

 Creek, in rear of Chippawa, Canada. 



In May the young birds emerge 

 from the eggs and look like balls of 

 yellowish down, but after a week's 

 time the quills begin to grow, giving 

 the young a darker appearance. Now 

 both of the parents go out on for- 

 aging trips. We have seen theni come 

 almost to a standstill 40 to 50 feet 

 over the nest and drop with unerring 

 aim a mole amidst the hungry, fight- 

 ing young. 



If the first set of eggs is taken they 



