’[15.] 2. B uteo borealis. Red-tailed Buzzard.
Ge n u s . Buteo. R a y .
American Buzzard. L a t h . Syn., i., p. 50, sp. 31. Mature.
Red-tailed Falcon. P e n n . Arcl. Zool., ii., p. 205, No. 100. Mature.
Leverian Falcon. I d e m , ii., p. 206, No. 101. ? Fide Bonap.
Falco borealis. L a t h . i., p. 25, sp. 50.
Falco leverianus. I d e m , i., p. 18, sp. 31. Fide Bonap.
Red-tailed Hawk. (Falco borealis.) W il s o n , vi., p. 75, pi. 52, f. 2, misprinted for f. 1. Mature male. •
American Buzzard, or White-breasted Hawk, . (.Fa/co leverianus.) I d e m , vi., p. 78, pi. 52, f. 1 ^ misprinted
for f. 2 . Fide Bonap.
Falco borealis. Sa b in e . Frankl. Jo u m ., p. 670. B o n a p. Syn., p. 32, No. 20.
The Red-tailed Buzzard is rather common in the fur-countries, which it visits in
the summer. It winters in Pennsylvania, and, according to Wilson, even breeds
within the limits of the United States. Specimens were shot by the members of
the Expedition on the Rocky Mountains, the plains of the Saskatchewan, and at
York Factory, between the fifty-third and fifty-seventh parallels of latitude *. It
preys on small quadrupeds, birds, and frogs. In the spring of the year, when
the small Marmots, that inhabit the plains of the Saskatchewan, leave their burrows
in quest of a mate, and, in the ardour of the pursuit, have laid aside their
usual wariness, they often fall a prey to this Buzzard, which, sweeping along near
the ground, with scarcely any change in the rapidity or direction of its flight,
singles out one of these little animals, and, striking its claws into its neck, carries
it off to the distance of several hundred yards, alights on the ground, and tears it
to pieces.—R.
The bill of the Red-tailed Buzzard is proportionally shorter and higher than
that of the common Buzzard, with the cere confined to a smaller portion of its
base : the sinuosity of the upper mandible is also much greater. In all these
characters there is a close resemblance to the Goshawk, whose bill is not so
strongly sinuated as this is; it is, nevertheless, shorter, and consequently stronger,
than that of the present bird f .—Sw.
DESCRIPTION
. Of a female^ killed 16 th May, 1827, at Carlton House, lat. 53°.
Colour of the dorsal aspect intermediate between deep clove-brown and liver-brown. On
* Mr. Taylor has also received five adult specimens from the Table Land of Mexico, procured, near Real del Monte,
by the late Mr. Morgan.—Sw.
*f- In Audubon’s plate of the male and female Falco borealis, the former has a strongly and sharply sinuated upper
mandible, whilst in the latter the cutting margin is nearly straight.—R.
the head this colour is unmixed, a little white appearing only at the base of the bill. On the
neck it is relieved by some of the feathers being edged with paler yellowish-brown. The
back, again, has a darker tint, approaching more nearly to liver-brown, and is unspotted. On
the rump there are a few bars and edgings of yellowish-brown. The primaries, their coverts,
and the secondaries, are of . the prevailing tint, crossed' by bars of dark liver-brown, , the terminal
bar being by much the broadest. The secondaries and some of the adjoining primaries
are narrowly tipped with white, and both these classes of feathers have their inner webs towards
the quills barred with white and brown. Some of the longest tail coverts are white,
clouded by yellowish-brown and crossed by narrow bars of liver-brown. The tail is brownish-
orange, tipped with soiled white, with a subterminal bar of blackish-brown: there are also
traces of thirteen other brown bars. Under surface. The cheeks, and neck beneath are
coloured as on the dorsal aspect; the breast is white, with brown shafts ; and the belly and
flanks blackish-brown, with white blotches and cross bars. The vent and under tail coverts
are white. The thigh feathers are soiled yellowish-white, with narrow faint cross bars of
brown. The linings of the wings are white, with some, yellowish-brown markings ; and there
- is a large patch of blackish-brown adjoining to the upper edge of the wing. The greater inner
coverts are barred with brown. The inner surfaces of the quill feathers are blackish-brown
towards the tips and pearl-grey towards the quills, mottled with brown and crossed by narrow
bars of the same. The tail is slightly tinged with buff-orange beneath, and is crossed by very
faint bars of blackish-grey. Bill bluish-black. Legs bluish.
Form, &c.—The head is rather large. The bill is wide at the base and compressed anterior
to the cere, with a roundish ridge and a strong hooked tip : the curve of the ridge is elliptical,
but it is not so much depressed at the base as that of the common Buzzard. The
cutting edge of the upper mandible has a very distinct obtuse lobe: thfe. lower mandible is
obliquely truncated at the tip. The nostrils are oval, nearly longitudinal, and partly concealed
by hairs. The lores are densely covered with short white hair-like feathers, upon which long
black hairs are arranged in a stelliform manner. The eyebrow projects as in the Eagles.
Wings. The fourth quill feather is the longest; the third and fifth are only a line or two
shorter; the second and sixth are half an inch shorter than these three ; the seventh is more
than an inch shorter than the sixth ; and the eighth is equal to the first and about an inch
shorter than the seventh. The outer webs of the second, third, fourth, and fifth are chamfered
away towards their tips, and in the three latter very suddenly : the web of the sixth is narrowed
so gradually as not to produce a sinuation. The first to the fourth inclusive have their inner
webs strongly sinuated, and the fifth has a very oblique sinuation. The tarsi are strong, feathered
about two inches below the joint anteriorly, and protected beneath by seven large transverse
scales: naked their whole length posteriorly, with thirteen large scales. The hind toe is the
shortest, the outer one is nearly as long as the inner one, and the middle one is four or five
lines longer than these : the latter is connected to the outer one by a short web. There are
six or seven scutelli on the middle toe, and four on each of the others.