( 296 ) . 



RED-SHOULDERED HAWK. 



Falco lineatus, Gmel. 



PLATE LVI. Male and Female. 



Although we are informed that a skin of this species has long ago 

 been described in Europe, we are, in the same breath, told that nothing 

 is known of the life and habits of the individual on the body of which it 

 once shone in all its native glossiness. Nothing, kind reader : — the tar- 

 nished coat only has been transmitted abroad ; and, like that belonging 

 to many equally interesting species of the feathered tribe, has been ex- 

 posed for sale in distant markets, where the purchaser has felt as little 

 concern about the life of the individual to which it belonged, as purchasers 

 of another kind usually feel about the former owners of the thread-bare 

 vestments which we see offered for sale by the old-clothes'-men of St Giles's. 

 Even Mr Alexander Wilson himself, knew nothing respecting the 

 habits of this species ; and as other authors, ranking equally high with 

 that pleasing writer, have unwittingly confounded it with another species, 

 known in the United States by the name of the Winter Hawk, it is with 

 satisfaction that I find myself in some degree quaUfied to give an account 

 of the differences of habit between the two species. 



The Red-shouldered Hazel; or, as I would prefer calling it, the Red- 

 breasted Hawk, although dispersed over the greater part of the United 

 States, is rarely observed in the Middle Districts, where, on the contrary, 

 the Winter Falcon usually makes its appearance from the north, at the 

 approach of every autumn, and is of more common occurrence. Ken- 

 tucky, Tennessee, and other Western States, with the most Southern 

 Districts of our Union, are apparently best adapted for the constant resi- 

 dence of the Red-shovildered Hawk, as in aU these latter districts it is met 

 with in greater numbers than in any other. 



This bird is one of the most noisy of its genus, during spring espe- 

 cially, when it would be difficult to approach the skirts of woods bordering 

 a large plantation without hearing its discordant shrill notes, ka-hee, ka-hee, 

 as it is seen sailing in rapid circles at a very great elevation. Its ordi- 

 nary flight is even and protracted, excepting when it is describing the 



