GOSHAWK
Astur atricapillus
The adult is blue-gray above with a darker crown and a white line over the eye. The underparts are finely and beautifully marked with gray and white. Young birds resemble the young of Cooper's Hawk, but are much larger. L., male, 22; female, 24.
Range. North America, nests chiefly north of the United States and winters southward, usually rarely, as far as Virginia.
Washington, casual in winter. Ossining, rare W.V., Oct. 10-Jan. 14. Cambridge, irregular and uncommon W.V. SE. Minn., W.R., Nov. 5-Apl. 4.
Like its smaller relatives the Sharp-shin and Cooper's Hawks, this powerful raptor is a relentless hunter of birds. It is particularly destructive to Ruffed Grouse. Fortunately it does not often visit us in numbers. It nests in trees, laying 2-5 white eggs, rarely marked with brownish, in April.
RED-TAILED HAWK
Buteo borealis borealis. [Case 1], Figs. 5, 6; [Case 3], Fig. 13.
This, the largest of our common Hawks, is a heavy-bodied bird with wings which when closed, reach nearly to the end of the tail. The adult has the tail bright reddish brown with a narrow black band near the tip. The immature bird has the tail rather inconspicuously barred with blackish, and a broken band of blackish spots across the underparts. L. male, 20; female, 23.
Range. Eastern North America, migrating only at the northern limit of its range. There are several races, Krider's Red-tail, a paler form inhabiting the great Plains, and Harlan's Hawk, a darker form with a mottled tail, the lower Mississippi Valley.
Washington, common W.V., rare S.R. Ossining, common P.R., less common in winter. Cambridge, rare T.V., locally W.V., Oct. 10-Apl. 20. N. Ohio, common P.R. Glen Ellyn, P.R., not common, chiefly T.V. SE. Minn., common S.R., Mch. 2.