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Buteo lineatus 
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At short intervals during the forenoon I heard 
Red-shouldered Hawks screaming. Possibly there was only one 
bird but if so it moved frequently from place to place. Its 
cries were quite as void, ringing and exultant as in spring,- 
The Blue Jay’s imitation is certainly good but it never 
deceives me. It reproduces the form merely and lacks the 
essential quality of tone. This difference serves if the 
bird is near. If distant, I have only to remember that the 
Jay never utters more than three of four notes (usually but 
two) in succession, whereas the Hawk commonly repeats the cry 
from six to an indefinite number of times. It is decidedly 
the wildest sound to be heard in our Massachusetts woods. I 
am puzzled to know just what it means. One might imagine 
the bird to be venting his fierce joy over the capture of some 
victim but he is invariably silent when hunting or feeding and 
when screaming is always on wing, usually soaring in circles 
but sometimes dashing in and out among the trees. Probably 
this .screaming is merely a manifestation of high animal 
spirits although in the spring-time it evidently has a close 
connection with love-making. 
It is easy to distinguish this species from the 
Red-tail by flight alone, its movements being quicker and 
more decided and its wing-beats much more rapid than those 
of the lamger bird. 
An adult male Marsh Hawk passed very near me this 
afternoon on its way across the river in front of my cabin 
and I distinctly saw its legs and feet extended backward 
7 
