Bill short, wide at base, edges of upper mandible festooned; nostrils large, ovate; wings long, wide, fourth and fifth quills usually longest; tail moderate, rather wide; tarsi rather long, and having transverse scales before and behind, but laterally small circular scales; toes moderate, rather short; claws strong. Comprises about twenty species, inhabiting all countries.
1. Buteo borealis. (Gmelin.) The Red-tailed Hawk. The American Buzzard. Falco borealis, leverianus and jamaicensis. Gmelin, Syst. Nat., I. p. 266. (1788.) Falco aquilinus. Bartram, Trav., p. 290. (1791.) Buteo ferruginicaudus. Vieill., Ois. d’Am. Sept., I. p. 32. (1807.) Accipiter ruficaudus. Vieill., Ois. d’Am. Sept., I. p. 43. (1807.) Buteo fulvus and americanus. Vieill., Nouv. Dict., IV. pp. 472, 477. (1816.)
Vieill., Ois. d’Am. Sept., I. pl. 6, 14; Wils., Am. Orn., VI. pl. 52, figs. 1, 2; Aud., B. of Am., pl. 51, oct. ed., I. pl. 7; Gosse, Ill. B. of Jamaica, pl. 2; Lembeye, B. of Cuba, pl. 1. fig. 1.
Adult. 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; scapulars, with a generally concealed basal portion, white, with brown bands; upper tail-coverts generally yellowish white, but frequently on their inner webs of the same rufous as the tail, and with brown spots and bands. Throat white, with brown longitudinal stripes; other under-parts yellowish-white or fawn color, with many longitudinal lines and spots of reddish-brown, tinged with fulvous, most numerous on the breast, and an irregular band across the abdomen of oblong longitudinal spots and narrow transverse bars; under tail-coverts and tibiæ generally immaculate, but the latter frequently spotted, and transversely barred with light rufous. Under surface of the tail silvery white. Young. Tail, in many specimens, pale-brown, with numerous bands of a deeper shade of the same color, and tipped with white; upper tail-coverts white, banded more or less regularly with dark-brown; other upper parts dark umber-brown, many feathers narrowly edged with white and with partially concealed spots of white. Entire under-parts white, sides of the breast with large oval spots of brown, and a wide irregular band on the abdomen composed of similar spots of the same color; tibiæ and under tail-coverts with irregular bands and sagittate spots of brown.
Dimensions. Female—total length, 22 to 24 inches; wing, 15½ to 16; tail, 8½ inches. Male—19½ to 21 inches; wing, 14; tail, 7½ to 8 inches.
Hab. Eastern North America; Fur-countries (Richardson); Wisconsin (Hoy); Florida (Bartram); Jamaica (Gosse); Cuba (Lembeye).
Obs. One of the most common and easily recognized of the North American species. It is diffused throughout the eastern portion of the continent, but in the west appears to be replaced by the succeeding.
2. Buteo Swainsoni. Bonaparte, Comp. List, p. 3. (1838.) The Western Buzzard. Buteo montana. Nutt., Man. Orn., I. p. 112. (1840.) “Buteo vulgaris.” Rich. and Sw., Faun. Bor. Am. Birds, p. 47. “Falco buteo. Linn.” Aud., Orn. Biog., IV. p. 508.
Faun. Bor. Am. Birds, pl. 27; Aud., B. of Am., pl. 372, oct. ed., I. pl. 6.
General form and appearance very similar to B. borealis, but rather larger, and with the wings longer; neck and upper part of the breast brown; tibiæ light rufous, with transverse bars of a deeper shade of the same. Tail bright rufous, narrowly tipped with white, and with a subterminal band of black; upper tail-coverts rufous and white; entire other upper parts dark umber-brown, with partially concealed ashy-white and pale fulvous bands and spots on the scapulars and shorter quills. Lower breast white, tinged and with irregular transverse bands of pale-rufous; abdomen with a broad irregular transverse band composed of longitudinal lines and oblong spots of brown, and tinged with rufous. This abdominal band nearly obsolete in some specimens. Under tail-coverts yellowish-white; under surface of the tail silvery-white, with a reddish shade.
Young. Upper parts dark-brown, edged and spotted with white tinged with rufous; tail above ashy-brown, with dark-brown bands, and tipped with white. Under parts white, on the sides and abdomen with large oblong spots of brown; tibiæ and under tail-coverts white, with transverse bars and large spots of brown.
Dimensions. Female—total length, 23 to 26 inches; wing, 16½ to 17; tail, 9 to 10 inches. Male—smaller.
Hab. Northern and western regions—Rocky Mountains and Oregon (Dr. Townsend); California (Mr. Bell); Wisconsin (Dr. Roy); Mexico (Rivoli collection).
Obs. Nearly related to B. borealis, and much resembling it. We have never seen, however, specimens of the latter with the brown space on the neck and breast so extensive as in specimens of the present species brought from California by Mr. Bell, nor with the transverse bars on the abdomen, as is usual in this species, and as represented in the plate in Fauna Boreali Americana. It is brought frequently in collections from Western America; and the young may be Buteo ventralis. Gould.
3. Buteo lineatus. (Gmelin.) The Red-shouldered Hawk. The Winter Falcon. Falco lineatus and hyemalis. Gm., Syst. Nat., I. pp. 268, 274. (1788.) Falco buteoides. Nutt., Man., I. p. 100. (1st edition, 1832.)
Vieill., Ois. d’Am. Sept., pl. 5; Wils., Am. Orn., pl. 53, fig. 3; Aud., B. of Am., pl. 56, 71, oct. ed., I. pl. 9; Nat. Hist. N. Y., pl. 6, fig. 13.
Smaller than the preceding. Adult. Wing-coverts, from its flexure to the body, fine bright rufous; breast and other inferior parts paler rufous; many feathers with narrow lines of black on their shafts, and spotted and barred transversely with white; the latter color predominating on the under tail-coverts. Entire upper-parts brown; on the head and neck much mixed with rufous, and with white spots on the wing-coverts and shorter quills and rump; quills brownish-black, spotted with white on their outer webs, and with bars of a lighter shade of the same color and of white on their inner webs; tail brownish-black, with about five transverse bands of white, and tipped with white. Younger. Under parts with large sagittate spots and wide bars of rufous, tinged with brown. Young. Entire under-parts yellowish-white, with longitudinal stripes and oblong spots of brown; throat brown; upper parts brown, with partially concealed spots and bars of white; quills dark-brown, with wide bars of rufous, and white on both webs; tail brown, with many bands of pale brownish and rufous-white; tail beneath silvery-white.
Dimensions. Female—total length, 22 to 24 inches; wing, 14; tail, 9 inches. Male—total length, 18 to 20 inches; wing, 11½ to 12; tail, 8 inches.
Hab. North America; Oregon (Townsend); California (Heermann); Wisconsin (Hoy); South Carolina (Gibbes).
Obs. An abundant and rather difficult species to the student. The young bird, which is Falco hyemalis Gm., is the more usually met with, and bears very little resemblance to the adult.