RED-TAILED HAWK
337. Buteo borealis. 21 in.
One of the handsomest and most powerfully built of our hawks. Adults with the tail rusty-red, with or without a narrow blackish band near the tip; below white, with a band of blackish streaks across the breast, and dusky markings on the sides. Young birds are similar, but have the tail grayish-brown with black bands. An examination of the food of this bird of prey, made by the Department of Agriculture, shows that, instead of living upon poultry as most farmers think, their food consists chiefly of frogs, snakes, lizards, mice and insects, less than one in ten of the stomachs examined containing any remains of poultry.
Notes.—A shrill whistle or scream.
Nest.—Of sticks, weeds, leaves and trash high up in tall trees; eggs white, spotted with blackish-brown.
Range.—Breeds in United States and Southern Canada; winters in the United States. 337a., Krider Hawk is a paler race found on the plains from Minn. to Texas. 337d., Harlan Hawk, is darker and has the tail mottled with blackish; found in the Gulf States.
