NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



209 



Mr. Crandall has a set of the eggs of this 

 subspecies taken at Avery's Island, Louis- 

 iana, March 17, 1895. The nest was large and 

 bulky, composed of sticks, twigs, lined with 

 green leaves and moss. The nest was placed 

 in a large white oak tree on the edge of a 

 swamp. The eggs, two in number, measure 

 2.40x1.81, 2.45x1.83 respectively. Their ground 

 color is bluish- white, blotched with brown; 

 in one somewhat sparingly over the small 

 end, and in the other specimen sprinkled 

 over the entire surface. 



339. RED-SHOULDERED HAWK. 



Buteo liiieutus (Gmel.) Geog. Dist. — East- 

 ern North America, north to Nova Scotia; 

 west to the edge of the Great Plains. 



This large species is one of the common- 

 est hawks in the United States, and it is 

 especially abundant in winter, from which 

 it receives the name of Winter Falcon, 

 but it is not more hardy than the Red-tail. 

 It also shares the name of Chicken 

 Hawk, commonly applied to all the larger 

 hawks. Only occasionally it visits the 

 barnyard, its diet is of a more humble kind, 

 such as frcgs, rats, mice and small 

 snakes. The nesting of the Red-shouldered Hawk is very much the sftme as that of 

 the Red-tail, but in many sections it seems to have a preference for lower woods, in 

 bottom lands. The nest is said not to be so long re-occupied by the birds. The eggs 

 are usually deposited in April or May. The number of eggs is three or four, some- 

 times only two. The ground color is bluish, yellowish-white, or brownish, spotted, 

 blotched and dotted irregularly with many sha.des of reddish-brown; they are usu- 

 ally more highly colored than the eggs of the Red-tail. Some of them are exceed- 

 ingly handsome. A series of sixty-one sets are in Mr. Norris' cabinet, nearly all of 

 which were collected by the celebrated oologist, "J. M. W." (C. L. Rawson) ; they 

 show a wonderful variation in size and markings, ranging from almost unmarked 

 to very heavily spotted and blotched specimens. To describe all the shades of reds 

 and browns, which comprise the variation, would be an almost endless task, and a 

 large series like this must be seen in order to appreciate how much the eggs of this 

 species vary. The sizes range from 2.00 to 2.30 long by 1.65 to 1.75 broad. For a 

 thorough treatise on the food of the Raptores we refer the reader to Dr. A. K. Fisher's 

 "Hawks and Owls of t^e United States."* Hundreds of stomachs of these birds have 

 been examined and their contents recorded in this work, which proves conclusively 

 that they are of great benefit to agriculturalists and should by all means be pro- 

 tected by law everywhere in this country. 



33Ti/. Harlan's Hawk (After Audubon). 



* U. S. Department of Agriculture Division of Ornithology and Mammalogy, Bulletin 

 No. S. The Hawks and Owls of the United States in their relation to Agriculture. Pr«. 

 pared under the direction of Dr. C. Hart Merriam, Ornithologist, by A. K. Fisher, M. D., 

 Assistant Ornithologist. Published by authority of the Secretary of Agriculture. Wash- 

 ington: Government Printing Office, 1S93. 



15 



