A History of North American Birds, Land Birds. Volume 3

In the Southern States these Hawks begin to build in February; in the Middle States, from March the 24th to April 15th; and in New England usually from April to May. They construct a large nest, composed externally of coarse sticks and twigs, and lined with dried grasses, moss, and leaves, built for the most part in the fork of a lofty tree. The eggs are usually four in number.

Mr. Augustus Fowler of Danvers, who is familiar with the habits of this bird, writes me that in Massachusetts they usually begin to build their nests about the first of April, selecting some tall tree near the middle of the woods, the branches of which form a crotch near its trunk. To this chosen spot the female carries a sufficient quantity of sticks for its outside (the male taking no very active part in the matter), and for its inside she uses the bark from the dead branches of the chestnut, which she beats and pecks to pieces with her bill, making it soft and pliable, or gathers the fallen leaves of the pine, or some other soft material, which she finds conveniently, as a lining, which is about one inch in thickness. It is thirteen inches in diameter from outside to outside, and seven inches in diameter on the inside, while its depth is two and a half inches. The female usually lays five eggs, which are spherical, of a dirty-white color, and marked with large blotches of brown; on some they cover almost the whole egg, while others are marked mostly on the large end, and some even of the same nest are so faintly marked as to appear almost wholly white. They are 2.12 inches in length and 1.95 in diameter.

In Jamaica, according to Mr. March, these Hawks do not confine themselves to any particular mode or place for breeding, height seeming to be their chief object. He has found their nest in a quite accessible tree, not more than twenty feet from the ground, and near a frequented path. In another instance a pair nested for several years on the roof of the turret of the belfry of the Spanishtown Cathedral church. The nest he describes as a platform of dry sticks, more than a foot across and two or three inches thick. The bed of the nest is about six inches across and two deep, of fine inner bark, grass, and leaves, containing four or five eggs, nearly spherical, measuring 2.25 by 2.75 inches, of a dirty or clayish white, dashed with blotches and spots of vandyke-brown and umber, often running with a light shade into the ground-color.

The eggs of the Red-tail exhibit great variations in nearly every respect except their shape, which is pretty uniformly a spheroidal-oval. Their ground-color varies from white to a dingy rusty drab, their markings vary greatly in colors, shades, size, frequency, and distribution. In some the markings are small, few, and light, and the egg appears to be of an almost homogeneous brownish-white. In others the ground is completely concealed by large and confluent blotches of deep and dark purplish-brown, burnt umber, and a peculiar shade known as Dutch umber. In some the markings are distributed in fine and frequent granulations, diffused over the entire surface of the egg, producing the effect of a color of uniform umber brown, through which the ground of yellowish-white can only be traced by a magnifying-glass. Four eggs in my cabinet average 2.22 inches in length by 1.72 in breadth. The largest egg measures 2.55 by 1.90 inches; the smallest, 2.10 by 1.70. The capacity of the largest to the smallest is nearly as five to four.

The season in which this Hawk deposits its eggs varies considerably. Mr. Jackson of West Chester, Penn., gives March 24 the earliest, and April 15 the latest, in which he has met with its fresh eggs.

Mr. Ridgway obtained two eggs of this Hawk at Mount Carmel, Ill., on the 6th of March, the nest having been commenced early in February. It was placed on the summit of a black-gum tree (Nyssa multiflora), and rested upon the topmost branches, about ninety feet from the ground. It was lined with corn-husks, gathered from a field close by. The eggs (No. 12,740, S. I. Collection) measure, respectively, 2.45 and 2.50 in length, by 1.95 and 2.00 in breadth. Their color is plain bluish-white, entirely free from markings of any kind.

In California, the var. calurus is stated to be common in all parts of the State not destitute of trees, and to reside permanently wherever found, pairing only during the breeding-season. They prey upon hares and other small quadrupeds, upon smaller birds, and upon reptiles. Dr. Cooper states that at times, when food is plenty, they become excessively fat. They are known to occasionally seize a fowl from the farm-yard. During the middle of the day, in the cold weather, they are said to soar very high in the air, and occasionally to disappear also in the manner of their eastern relatives, the Buteo borealis. They are said to be abundant and resident species in Washington Territory, having been found by Dr. Suckley quite numerous at Puget Sound, but scarcer on the Upper Columbia, east of the Cascade Mountains. It seems to be more daring than is common with the borealis, for Dr. Suckley states that while he was stationed at Fort Steilacoom he noticed that the poultry-yards were as much harassed by this Hawk as by the Goshawk, not hesitating to seize poultry from the very doors of the dwelling-houses.

Dr. Kennerly states that this Hawk was met with by him between the coast of Texas at Indianola, and the Rio Grande at El Paso del Norte. It seemed to feed indifferently upon reptiles, particularly lizards, and the smaller quadrupeds and birds.

Dr. Cooper states that the nests of this species are numerous in the valleys and on the lower mountains of California. They are generally built in the forks of a sycamore or other large trees, and formed of twigs pretty finely constructed, and with a very distinct cavity. Eggs, taken by Dr. Cooper near San Diego, were laid about the 20th of March, and were three in number. They measured 2.28 by 1.76 inches, were of a dull yellowish-white, with faint brown spots. While Dr. Cooper was climbing to the nest, the old birds darted towards him from a neighboring bluff, but when within a few feet of his head they turned away and did not attempt to make an assault.

Two eggs belonging to the variety calurus were obtained by Mr. E. Samuels near Petaluma, Cal., in 1856; measure 2.31 inches in length by 1.87 in breadth. The shape of one egg is an almost exact ovoid, slightly tending to a spheroid, one end being hardly perceptibly larger than the other. Its ground-color is a very light buff, the spottings and markings giving to it the effect of a yellowish-white. It is marked over the entire surface with blotches, dashes, and lines of a light tint of a brown tending to vandyke. These are mixed with markings of a lighter purplish-brown. The markings, of both shades, are chiefly oblong in shape, and run with the length of the egg. They bear no resemblance to any eggs of the B. borealis that I have ever seen, and are unlike those of other Hawks so far as I am aware. It was built on the top of a large evergreen-oak, at least seventy feet from the ground, and was constructed entirely of large, coarse sticks, lined with a few stray feathers. The male bird was shot as it flew from the nest, which was so hidden by the thick branches that it would have escaped detection.

The black form of this species was first described by Mr. Cassin as Buteo calurus, in 1855, from a specimen procured by Dr. Henry near Fort Webster, New Mexico. In this plumage it was afterwards met with by Mr. Emanuel Samuels, near Petaluma, in California, who found it breeding, and was fortunate enough to secure the parent bird on its nest.

The nest was built near the top of an evergreen-oak, at the height of about sixty feet from the ground, and contained two eggs just on the point of hatching. It was constructed of sticks, and was lined with moss. Both birds were about the spot. The male bird, manifesting much more courage than his mate in resistance to the intruders, was shot. The female was wounded, but escaped.

One of these eggs measures 2.25 inches in length by 1.79 in breadth. Its capacity is considerably less than that of the specimens just described; its shape is a much more oblong-oval; one end is evidently more pointed than the other. Its ground-color is a dirty cream-white, covered, chiefly at the larger end, with blotches and smaller markings of a dark shade of a brown almost exactly corresponding with that known as vandyke-brown, with smaller markings and spottings of a lighter shade of the same. The latter are distributed at intervals over its entire surface.

A nest, found by Mr. Xantus near Fort Tejon, is stated by him to have been found in a swamp. It was built in a water-oak, was about fifteen feet from the ground. The nest was very large and was built of coarse sticks. It contained four eggs.

Buteo harlani (Audubon)HARLAN’S HAWK; “BLACK WARRIOR.”

Falco harlani, Aud. B. Am. 1831, pl. xxxvi; Ib. Orn. Biog. I, 441.—Brewer (Wils.), Am. Orn. Synop. 1852, 684. Buteo harlani, Bonap. List, 1838, 3.—Aud. Synop. 1839, 6.—Gray, List B. Brit. Mus. 18.—De Kay, Zoöl. N. Y. II, 11.—Strickl. Orn. Syn. I, 30.—Cass. Birds N. Am. 1858, 24 (adult, but not the description of young, which is that of B. borealis, var. calurus).—Coues, P. A. N. S. 1866, 43.—Gray, Hand List, I, 7 (under B. borealis).—Ridgway, P. A. N. S. Dec. 1870, 142.—Coues, Key, 1872, 216.

Sp. Char. Form strong and heavy, like B. borealis, but still more robust; tibial plumes unusually developed, long and loose, their ends reaching to or beyond the base of the toes; lateral toes nearly equal. Four outer primaries with inner webs cut. Dimensions: Wing, 14.25–15.75; tail, 8.80–10.00; culmen, 1.00; tarsus, 2.75–3.25; middle toe, 1.50–1.70. Colors: Nearly uniform black, varying from a sooty to a carbonaceous tint, with more or less of concealed pure white. Adult. Tail confusedly mottled longitudinally, with grayish, dusky, and white, often tinged or mixed with rufous, the different shades varying in relative amount in different individuals; a subterminal band of black. Young. Tail grayish-brown, crossed by about nine very regular and sharply defined, broad bands of black, about equal in width to the gray ones.

Adult male (Lawrence, Kansas, Oct., 1871; in Collection of Kansas University). General color deep, almost carbonaceous, black, showing much exposed white on the head, neck, and breast, all the feathers of which are snowy white beneath the surface, the black being merely in the form of tear-shaped spots on the terminal portion of the feather; chin, lores, and front pure white; upper parts in general, the posterior lower parts and the lining of the wing, with the black unbroken, but all the feathers—except the under wing-coverts—more or less spotted with white beneath the surface, on a grayish ground; these spots being usually arranged in pairs on each side of the shaft, on the flanks; tail-coverts, above and below, spotted irregularly with bright rufous, in nearly equal amount with the black and white. Alulæ, primary coverts, and primaries, with quadrate spots of plumbeous on their outer webs, forming transverse bands; under surface of primaries plumbeous-gray except at ends, but much broken by coarse marbling of white, this prevailing anteriorly, where it is much confused, but posteriorly about equal with the grayish, and exhibiting a tendency to form quadrate spots. Tail, with the ground-color white, but this nearly hidden on the upper surface by a longitudinal mottling of dark and light ashy, this growing more uniform terminally, where it becomes slightly suffused with reddish and crossed by a subterminal, broad but broken and irregular, band of black, the tip again very narrowly grayish and reddish.

6851. ½

Buteo harlani.

Wing-formula, 4, 3, 5–2, 6; 1=10. Wing, 15.00; tail, 8.80; culmen, 1.00; tarsus, 2.75; middle toe, 1.50; lateral toes equal. Plumage of the flanks, abdomen, tibiæ, and crissum remarkably lengthened and lax, the latter reaching within two inches of the tip of the tail, and the tibial plumes reaching to the base of the toes.

Adult female (6,851, Rio Grande, lat. 32°; Dr. T. C. Henry, U. S. A.). Whole plumage purplish black, or chocolate-black, with a purplish lustre; feathers everywhere pure white at bases, this exposed, however, only on the occiput, or where the feathers are disarranged. Forehead, lores, and chin white. Secondaries and primaries more brown than other portions, crossed by distinct bands of black,—about six on the secondaries. Whole lining of the wing and upper tail-coverts continuous, unvariegated black. Under surface of the primaries ashy-white, more slaty terminally; ends with distinct, and other portions with obsolete mottled, bars of dusky. Tail ashy-brown on outer webs, white on inner; both with a confused, rather longitudinal mottling of blackish; terminally, there is a broad nearly continuous subterminal band indicated by blotches, these mixed very slightly with a rufous tinge. Primaries injured by shot, therefore proportions of the quills cannot be determined. Wing 15.75; tail, 9.10; culmen, 1.00; tarsus, 2.90; middle toe, 1.60; outer, 1.15; inner, 1.15.

Young (Phil. Acad. Coll.; San Antonio, Texas, 1860; Dr. A. L. Heermann). Like the preceding, but basal white rather more exposed, and somewhat fulvous on the breast; the sides, axillars, lining of the wing, and lower tail-coverts have very obsolete transverse spots of the same. Under surface of primaries unvariegated silvery white anterior to their emargination, beyond which they are more hoary, along the edge black, this portion with about five transverse spots of black. Tail grayish ashy-brown to the tip, crossed with about nine very sharply defined bands of black, of equal width with the gray ones. Lores grayish-white. Wing-formula, 4, 3, 5–2–6–7–8=1. Wing, 14.25; tail, 10.00; tarsus, 3.25; middle toe, 1.70.

Hab. Southern Mississippi Valley, from Louisiana (Aud.) and Texas (Mus. S. I.); north to Eastern Kansas (Coll. Kansas Univ.).

Localities quoted: Guatemala (Sclater, Ibis I, 216 (?)); Arizona (Coues, P. A. N. S. 1866, 43).

There is not a doubt in my mind as to the propriety of separating this bird from any close relationship to the B. borealis, nor of the correctness of considering it the B. harlani of Audubon. It only can be referred to Audubon’s plate and description, both of which agree perfectly with the younger plumage described.

The specimens Mr. Cassin describes as the “adult” B. harlani are really such; but those which he describes as the “young” are the young of the Western Red-tail (B. borealis var. calurus). The California specimens to which Mr. Cassin refers, as identified by Mr. Lawrence as B. harlani, are in reality the melanistic condition of B. swainsoni, or the “insignatus” of Cassin. The present bird appears to be restricted to Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, and adjacent portions, north to Kansas, and probably Eastern Mexico.

Habits. This Hawk was first described by Audubon from a pair obtained by him near St. Francisville, Louisiana. They had bred in that neighborhood for two seasons, were shy and difficult of approach, and for a long while eluded his pursuit. The female was shot while sailing over his head, and wounded in the wing. He endeavored to preserve it alive and to carry it as a present to the Zoölogical Society, but it refused all food and died in a few days. This specimen is now in the British Museum. The male bird was also obtained a few days later, and this too was brought to him yet alive but also wounded. It was even more fierce and wilder than the female, would erect the feathers on its head, open its bill, and prepare to strike with its talons when any object was brought near to it.

This species, though smaller than the Red-tail, to which he regarded it as allied, Audubon thought greatly superior to it in flight and daring. Its flight is described as rapid, greatly protracted, and so powerful as to enable it to seize the prey with apparent ease, or effect its escape from its stronger antagonist, the Red-tail, which pursued it on all occasions. It had been seen to pounce upon a fowl, kill it almost instantly, and afterwards drag it along the ground several hundred yards. It was not seen to prey on hares or squirrels, but seemed to evince a marked preference for poultry, partridges, and the smaller species of wild duck. He saw none of the young, but was told that they appeared to be of a leaden-gray color at a distance, and at the approach of winter became as dark as their parents.

Mr. Dresser states that he noticed this bird on several occasions near San Antonio but was not fortunate enough to shoot one. He received one specimen that had been shot by a lad on the Medina River. He was informed by a man living near there, who was a good sportsman and a careful observer, that he had several times found their nests, and Dr. Heermann is said to have obtained the eggs there several years before. Dr. Coues did not meet with it in Arizona, where it probably, however, will yet be found. Specimens have been received from Mexico, as is stated by Cassin, and a Buzzard, which Mr. Salvin referred to this species, was seen by him near Dueñas, where it was by no means common.

A specimen of this species has recently been taken in Kansas, near Lawrence, as recorded by Professor Snow, and fully identified at the Smithsonian Institution.

Buteo cooperi, CassinCOOPER’S RED-TAILED HAWK

Buteo cooperi, Cass. P. A. N. S. Philad. VIII, 1856, 253.—Ib. Birds N. Am. 1858, 31, pl. xvi.—Coop. & Suck. P. R. R. Rept. XII, ii, 1860, 148.—Gray, Hand List, I, 8.—Ridgway, P. A. N. S. Dec. 1870, 142.—Coues, Key, 1872, 43.

8525. ½

Buteo cooperi.

Sp. Char. Adult (8,525, Santa Clara, California, Oct. 1856; Dr. J. G. Cooper). Head, neck, and whole lower parts white; feathers of the head and neck with medial longitudinal streaks of black, the white prevailing on the occiput and superciliary region,—the black predominating over the cheeks, forming a “mustache”; throat with fine lanceolate blackish streaks; sides of the breast with broader, more cuneate markings of the same; flanks with narrow, lanceolate stripes, these extending sparsely across the abdomen; tibiæ, and lower tail-coverts immaculate, the inner face of the former, however, with faint specks. Upper plumage in general dark plumbeous-brown, inclining to black on the back; plumbeous clearest on primaries, which are uniformly of this color, the inner ones inclining to fine cinereous. Scapulars and wing-coverts spattered with white beneath the surface. Rump black; upper tail-coverts white tinged with rufous, and with irregular, distant transverse bars of blackish. Tail with light rufous prevailing, but this broken up by longitudinal daubs and washes of cinereous, and darker mottlings running longitudinally on both webs; basally, the ground-color approaches white; tips white, and a distinct, but very irregular, subterminal band of black, into which the longitudinal mottlings melt; outer webs of lateral feathers entirely cinereous, and without the black band. Under side of the wing white, with a large black space on the lining near the edge; under surface of primaries white anterior to their emargination, finely mottled with ashy, and with indistinct transverse bands terminally. Fourth quill longest; third shorter than fifth; second equal to sixth; first equal to tenth. Wing, 15.75; tail, 9.10; tarsus, 3.25; middle toe, 1.70.

Buteo cooperi (adult).

This remarkable Hawk is certainly not to be referred to the B. borealis, as has been suggested, the proportions of the two being quite different, while there is no similarity of plumage. In plumage, Buteo cooperi very closely resembles the adult of Archibuteo ferrugineus, and the suggestion has been made that it is a hybrid between this and the Red-tail. The markings of the head, and the general tint of the upper parts, are almost precisely as in the former bird, while the tail is exactly similar in character of markings, the only difference being the more reddish tinge and black subterminal band, which are, in fact, the only characters approximating it to the Buteo borealis. The feet are, however, very much stronger than in the A. ferrugineus, while the tarsus is very much longer than in borealis, scarcely more so, however, than in the former. The black patch on the lining of the wing, however, is a feature shared by neither of these birds, being one entirely peculiar to the Buteo cooperi. But one specimen—the one described above—is known to have been obtained. Mr. J. A. Allen, in his “Notes on some of the Rarer Birds of Massachusetts” (see “American Naturalist,” Vol. III, p. 518, and a separate paper, p. 14), mentions the capture of this species near Cambridge, Mass., but probably did not actually see it. The specimen in question being in the possession of Mr. C. J. Maynard, he kindly sent it to the Smithsonian Institution. On examination, it proved to be a young Buteo lineatus, differing from the average in somewhat lighter colors.

Hab. Santa Clara County, California.

The nearest ally of this species is the B. ferox, of the Palæarctic Realm (Northern Asia and Africa and portions of Europe), which has exactly the size and proportions of the present bird, and in certain stages a very similar plumage. I have not seen an unquestionable adult of B. ferox, but specimens almost adult, in the collection of the Boston Society of Natural History, from the Himalaya Mountains, come remarkably close to B. cooperi in plumage, having like it a black spot on the under side of the wing, but apparently on the under primary-coverts, instead of on the lining, near the edge; the tail is also very similarly colored. Upon the whole, I consider the B. cooperi to be a good species, with B. ferox, Gmelin, of Asia, etc., as its nearest relative, unless it proves to be a hybrid between Buteo borealis and Archibuteo ferrugineus, which I think is less likely to be the case.

Habits. A single individual of this bird was shot by Dr. Cooper near Mountain View in Santa Clara Valley, California, in November, 1855. It still remains unique in collections, and during his more recent explorations Dr. Cooper has not been able to obtain any additional specimens or see any like it. Those he mistook for this bird and to which he refers in his report on the birds of Washington Territory, he is satisfied were only the Archibuteo ferrugineus. The suggestion of Sclater, that the bird is not distinct from Buteo erythronotus, is negatived, according to Mr. Ridgway, by the fact of their actually belonging to different sections of the genus.

Genus ARCHIBUTEO, Brehm

Archibuteo, Brehm, 1828. (Type, Falco lagopus, Gmelin.)

Triorchis, Kaup, 1829 (nec. Leach, 1816). (Same type.)

Butaëtes, Less. 1831. (Same type.)

? Butaquila, Hodgs. 1844. (Type, Butaquila strophiata, Hodgs.)

? Hemiaëtus, Hodgs. 1844. (Same type.)

Char. Similar to Buteo, but bill and feet weaker, wings longer, and tarsi feathers in front, to the toes. Bill small, compressed anteriorly, but very broad through the gape; upper outline of the cere ascending basally; nostril broadly oval, nearly horizontal. Tarsus densely feathered in front and on the sides down to the base of the toes; naked behind, where covered with irregular scales. Tarsus more than twice as long as the middle toe; basal half of the toes covered with small scales; outer toe longer than the inner; claws long, strongly curved, acute. Feathering of the head and neck normal. Wing very long; the third to fourth quill longest; first shorter than seventh; outer four or five with inner webs deeply emarginated. Tail moderate, rounded. Plumage full and soft.

The relationship of this well-marked genus appears to be nearest to Buteo and Circus, with an approach to Circætus in character of the plumage, especially the wing. The Old World species, belonging to the subgenus (?) Butaquila, numbering two or three, according to different authors, I have not seen, and consequently cannot say whether they are really congeneric with the American species or not. Exclusive of these, two species are known, both of which belong to North America, one of them (A. lagopus) being found also in Europe and Africa. These differ very considerably from each other, in the details of external structure, probably quite as much as they do from the Asiatic forms above mentioned. The following synopsis will express the differences between the two North American species, and between the American and European races of the one common to both continents.