BUZZARD HAWKS 
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less and ruddier streaking and almost immaculate pantaloons. The tail is an even brick- 
red with more or less of a narrow, black, subterminal band and a faint, faded, or creamy 
tip. Many western birds differ from this type only by irregular mixtures of red in the tail 
of the juvenile, more heavily barred thighs or pantaloons, and the addition of more or less 
complete dark bars across the red tail of the adult. 
The extreme dark phase is almost entirely dark brown, nearly black (like the dark 
Swainson's Hawk), with a dark-barred, grey-mottled, or red tail that may be either barred 
or not. Between these two phases is every possible intergradation and some very peculiar 
piebald mixtures occur. On the other hand, some specimens run to an extreme of whiteness 
that approaches albinism. 
Figure 185 
Red-tailed Hawk; scale, T V 
Appearance in flight. 
There may be large amounts of white or cream mixed with the dark of the back, and 
the head may be largely white. The tail may be cream to white, with or without dark 
barring. These differences, not due to sex, age, or season, have suggested the division of 
the species into numerous subspecies, but the more the species is examined the less claim 
do these irregular variants seem to have to special treatment, any more than do those of 
Swainson’s Hawk and the Rough-legs that show similar variants but are not subspecifically 
divided on that basis. 
Distinctions. Size will separate the Red-tailed Hawk from all hawks except Swain- 
son’s and the two Rough-legged Hawks. The bare instead of feathered tarsus will easily 
distinguish it from the latter two (like Figure 178 instead of Figure 190). The birds 
average larger than Swainson’s, but there is considerable variation in size and they are 
best distinguished from it by wing characters. In the Red-tailed the first four instead of 
the first three primaries are sharply emarginate and the third, fourth, and fifth are about 
equal in length, but longer than the rest, and thus form the point of the wing (Figure 184). 
Though both species are so variable in colour that some plumages are difficult or impossible 
to separate on that basis, there are certain distinctions that can usually be observed. In 
the Red-tailed the dark areas aggregate across the abdomen instead of across the breast, 
leaving the upper the lightest part of the front. In Swainson’s the converse is the case, 
the lightest spot being below the breast. This distinction is less pronounced in light 
juveniles and, of course, is absent in the extreme solidly black phase. Small, juvenile 
Red-tails may be confused with the Red-shouldered Hawk, common in eastern but rare 
or absent in western Canada. 
Field Marks. A large buzzard, practically the same size as the Rough-leg and Swain- 
son’s, only noticeably inferior to the osprey and the eagles (Figure 175- — 5). Wings 
round and broad. Of wide range in colour, from near-black and white, with or without 
varying amounts of cream and reddish, to solid and complete dark brown, almost black. 
A reddish tail when present is always determinative of this species. Separated from Swain- 
son’s Hawk by slightly rounder, less-pointed wing tips, and by the breast being lighter 
instead of darker than the abdomen. From the two Rough-legged Hawks, the Red-tailed 
is separated with greater ease as a rule. It is never as evenly dull ochre on the breast, 
nor has it the decided, sharply defined, black, abdominal band of the characteristic 
American Rough-legged (Figure 191), It is rarely as solidly white below, nor are the 
pantaloons in as deep rufous contrast as is usual in the Ferruginous. The tail, except in 
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