BIRDS-BUTEONINAE-BUTEO BOREALIS. 
25 
adult specimen agrees sufficiently well with Mr. Audubon’s description, though a measurement 
given in the latter—“tarsus If inches”—is very probably a misprint, though copied into his 
octavo edition. A Buteo, with the tarsus of this length, would be about the shortest legged 
species known, and rather deviating from the requirements of the genus. In the present bird 
the tarsus measures about three inches. 
The bird now before us being much like the figure and description given by Mr. Audubon as 
pointed out by Mr. Lawrence, we have no scruple in assenting to such designation as applied 
to it. The proper identification of the species though can he made only from the original 
specimen in the British Museum. To Mr. Lawrence we are also indebted for the recognition of 
the young bird of this species, described above, in the collection of the expeditions. 
The specimens in the collection of Captain Pope’s party were obtained by Dr. Henry in New 
Mexico, as above stated. Those described by Mr. Lawrence were from California. 
Sub-Genus Poecilopternis. 
BUTEO BOREALIS, Gmelin. 
The Red-tailed Hawk. 
Falco borealis, Leverianus, and jamaicensis, Gm. Syst. Nat. I, 266, (1788.) 
Falco aquilinus, Bartram, Trav. p. 290, (1791.) 
Buteo ferrugineicaudus, Vieill. Ois. d’Am. Sept. I, 32, (1807.) 
Jlccipiter ruficaudus, Vieill. Ois. d’Am. Sept. I, 43, (1807.) 
Buteo fulvus and americanus, Vieill. Nouv. Diet. IV, 472, 477, (1816.) 
Figures. —Vieill. Ois. d’Am. Sept. I, pi. 6 , 14; Wilson Am. Orn. VI, pi. 52, figs. 1, 2 ; Audubon B. of Am., pi. 51, Oct. 
ed. 1, pi. 7 ; Gosse B. of Jamaica, pi. 2 ; Lembeye B. of Cuba, pi. 1. 
Mult. —Tail bright rufous, narrowly tipped with white and having a subterminal band of black. Entire upper parts dark 
umber brown, lighter and with fulvous edgings on the head and neck ; upper tail coverts yellowish white, with rufous and 
brown spots and bands. Throat white, with narrow longitudinal stripes of brown, other under parts pale yellowish white with 
longitudinal lines and spots of reddish brown tinged with fulvous, most numerous on the breast, and forming an irregular band 
across the abdomen ; under tail coverts and tibiae generally clear yellowish white unspotted, but the latter frequently spotted and 
transversely barred with light rufous. Under surface of tail silvery white. 
Young —Tail usually ashy brown, with numerous bands of a darker shade of the same color and narrowly tipped with 
white, upper tail coverts white with bands of dark brown ; other upper parts dark umber brown, many feathers edged with dull 
white and with partially concealed spots of white. Entire under parts white, sides of the breast with large ovate spots of 
brownish black, and a wide irregular band on the abdomen composed of spots of the same color. Under tail coverts and tibisB 
with irregular transverse stripes and sagittate spots of dark brown. 
Total length.—Female, 22 to 24 inches ; wing, 15 to 16 inches ; tail, 85 inches. Male, 19 to 21 inches ; wing, 14 inches; 
tail, 7£ to 8 inches. 
Hah. —Eastern North America, fur countries, (Swainson,) Cuba, (Lembeye,) Jamaica, (Gosse.) 
The range of this well known bird covers an extent of longitude from the Atlantic ocean to 
the base of the Rocky mountains, and in latitude its locality may be said to be from the West 
India islands northward to the confines of the frigid zone. In the countries on the Pacific it is 
supplanted by the nearly allied species immediately succeeding, (Buteo montanus .) 
In the collections made by the surveying and exploring expeditions, there are specimens of 
this bird from the Yellow Stone river, Nebraska Territory, and others from the Pecos river, 
Texas. Specimens in immature plumage are also in Dr. T. Charlton Henry’s collection made 
at Fort Fillmore, New Mexico. 
