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NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



especially during March and October, and breeds commonly in all parts 

 of the State, except the Adirondack wilderness, where it is largely replaced 

 by the Broad-winged hawk. In the more thickly inhabited counties it is 

 commoner than the Red-tail. 



Habits. This bird is probably the commonest large hawk in the 

 southern, central and western counties of New York, where most of the 

 original forests have been cleared away and small patches of woodland 

 have been left standing along the streams and in swampy tracts. In such 



Photo by Verdi Burtch 



Red-shouldered hawk's nest and eggs 



localities it is often seen in spring, summer and early fall soaring about 

 over its chosen haunts after the manner of the so-called "Hen hawks," 

 uttering its shrill kee-you, kee-you, kee-you as it soars upward above the 

 tree-tops, but becoming silent as it reaches a higher altitude, and mounting 

 higher and higher, perhaps accompanied by its mate, almost disappears 

 from view in the upper air. It is less powerful than the Red-tail and its 

 quarry is of a humbler nature, consisting almost entirely of mice, frogs, 

 snakes, insects, spiders and crayfish. This species keeps more under cover 

 of the forest than the Red-tail and though it watches for its prey from 



