The Red-bellied Hawk 



of scientific accuracy; but lest our enthusiasm for the Western Redtail 

 should wane unduly, let us cite the testimony of Mr. Joseph Dixon, who 

 writes of the birds of San Onofre: 1 "Each pair of hawks had its own 

 squirrel pasture and the birds resented the trespassing of other hawks 

 on their domain. The remains of gophers, ground squirrels, meadow 

 mice, young cottontails and two species of snakes, the striped racer and 

 gopher snake, were found in Redtails' nests, but ground squirrels seemed 

 to be their principal diet. I found as many species of small mammals 

 in hawks' and owls' nests in two days as I did by trapping for a week." 



No. 332 



Red-bellied Hawk 



A. O. U. No. 339b. Buteo lineatus elegans (Cassin). 



Synonyms. — Red-breasted Hawk. Western Red-shouldered Hawk. 



"Chicken" Hawk. "Hen" Hawk. 



Description. — Adult: Above highly varied, brownish dusky, grayish brown 

 of two shades, rufous and white; head and neck all around light grayish brown, bordered 

 (or not, but at least tinged on throat) with ochraceous and marked with distinct dusky 

 shaft-lines; lesser wing-coverts and bend of wing, the "shoulders," bright orange- 

 rufous, with some blackish shaft-lines; remaining upperparts (chiefly and centrally) 

 dark grayish brown or dusky, with marginings of tawny or pale grayish brown on back; 

 tail crossed by five or six narrow white bands, including a terminal one; wing-coverts 

 heavily barred or spotted and tipped with white; primaries similarly barred throughout, 

 but pattern fading toward tips; 1st primary shorter than the 9th, the point of the wing 

 formed by the 3rd, 4th, and 5th; the 2nd about equal to the 6th; 1st to 5th emarginate 

 on inner web; 2nd to 5th slightly emarginate on outer web; tip of folded wing falling 

 three inches or more short of end of folded tail; entire underparts orange-rufous, rich 

 or pale, nearly solid on breast, elsewhere usually highly varied or barred with pale 

 ochraceous on whitish, but sometimes rufous rich enough to obliterate all pattern; 

 throat always (as aforesaid) and breast, occasionally and lightly, blackish shaft- 

 streaked. Cere and feet chrome-yellow; bill blackish; claws black. Immature- 

 Different; dark brown or fuscous above, only traces of rufous on wing-coverts, etc.; 

 spotting of quills more ochraceous; tail dusk}' with seven or eight grayish bars which 

 become more ochraceous and gradually obsolete basally; underparts not so richly 

 colored as in adult, heavily streaked and striped with dark brown. Adult male: 

 length 457.2-508 (18.00-20.00); wing 292.1-342.9 (1 1. 50-13. 50) ; tail 190.5-228.6 (7.50- 

 9.00); bill 20 (.79); tarsus 75 (2.95). Adult female: length 508-558.8 (20.00-22.00); 

 wing 304.8-355.6 (12.00-14.00); tail 215.9-254 (8.50-10.00); bill 22 (.86); tarsus 85 (3.35). 



Recognition Marks. — Crow size; rufous shoulder distinctive; underparts 

 usually rich red — more uniform than in the reddest swainsoni. Smaller, more active, 

 and more secretive than B. swainsoni. 



1 Condor, Vol. VIII., July, 1906, p. 92. 



1683 



