BUTEO LINE AT US. 
311 
DIMENSIONS. 
Average measurements of female specimens from Eastern North America. Length, 22-74; stretch, 51-98; wing, 15-25; 
tail, 9 - 45; bill, l - 12; tarsus, 2’85. Longest specimen, 23'52; greatest extent of wing, 53' 15; longest wing, 15'75; tail, 10-12; 
hill, 1'20; tarsus, 315. Shortest specimen, 22 - 00; smallest extent of wing, 51‘06; shortest wing, 15-12; tail, 8'95; bill, LOO; 
tarsus, 2’75. 
Average measurements of male specimens from Eastern North America. Length, 20 - 55; stretch, 46-15; wing, 14-50; 
tail, 8'50; bill, 1’05; tarsus, 2 - 65. Longest specimen, 21'12; greatest extent of wing, 48-15; longest wing, 15 00; tail, 8-95; 
bill, 1-15; tarsus, 2'75. Shortest specimen, 20 00; smallest extent of wing, 45 00; shortest wing, 14 85; tail, 8'00; bill, '98; 
tarsus, 2 50. 
HABITS. 
Audubon discovered the fine Hawk which we now have under consideration, fifty 
years ago in Louisiana and named it in honor of his friend, Dr. Richard Harlan of Phila¬ 
delphia. Two specimens were secured by the great ornithologist at that time, both of 
which were presented to the British Museum, but one was subsequently lost. The remain¬ 
ing specimen was, for a long time, the only one in existence and the validity of the species 
was doubted by many of the more recent writers upon ornithology, but was fully re-estab¬ 
lished by Mr. Ridgway in North American Birds, in 1874, and I fully endorse this latter 
named gentleman when he says that it is “a most excellent species”. There is a speci¬ 
men in the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences, obtained some years ago, if I remember 
rightly, in Pennsylvania. An adult male was taken in Kansas about 1872 and two have 
been secured in Texas since that time, one of which is now in the possession of Mr. Will¬ 
iam Brewster. I have a fine adult female which was shot by Mr. Walter Van Fleet in 
Watsontown, Pennsylvania, on the thirtieth of March, 1875. This bird was sitting on the 
top of a high tree at long gun-shot distance from a road, along which its captor was walk¬ 
ing, when he observed it; but, thinking it was a common Red-tail, he fired a careless shot 
at it, which by good fortune, brought it down. Mr. Van Fleet afterward saw the mate in 
the vicinity but was unable to secure it. Mr. Greene Smith of Peterborough, New York, 
also has a fine specimen of the dark type in his collection. This specimen, as seen by the 
above, makes the seventh which has been captured to my knowledge and one of these, Au¬ 
dubon’s, has been lost. I have, however, heard of others but will venture to state that, at 
the present time, January, 1880, there are not a dozen birds of this species in existence 
in collections. As may readily be inferred, but little is known of the habits of Harlan’s 
Hawk but they doubtless closely resemble the Red-tail in this respect. The nest and eggs 
are also unknown. 
BUTEO LUSTEATUS. 
Red-shouldered Hawk. 
Buteo Hneatus Aud. Syn. Birds, N. A.; 1839, 7. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Sp. Cb. Form, robust. Size, medium. Sternum, stout, not very narrow, with the marginal indentations quite small. 
Tongue, quite fleshy, rounded and slightly bifid at tip. Coeca, present but small. Tarsus, feathered in front for less than 
half its length. Four outer quills are incised on the inner webs. Sexes, similar in color. 
