The eggs of this species vary from two to five and are usually somewhat blotched or irregularly marked with chocolate brown on a dull white background.
The Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo borealis) of our illustration is young and shows the plumage of the immature form.
This species may be called our winter hawk and for this reason the name borealis is most appropriate. “The coldest days of January serve to give this hawk a keener eye and a deeper zest for the chase.” The best locality to seek the Red-tail may be found at the wooded borders of pastures and streams, where it can easily perceive and swoop down upon its prey. It seldom visits a barnyard, but will occasionally catch a fowl that has strayed away from the protection of buildings. Its food consists to a great extent of meadow and other species of mice, rabbits and other rodents. The remains of toads, frogs and snakes have also been found in its stomach. One writer says, “The Red-tailed Hawk is a powerful bird and I once saw one strike a full-grown muskrat, which it tore to pieces and devoured the greater part.”
Dr. Fisher gives an interesting summary of the examination of five hundred and sixty-two stomachs. Fifty-four contained poultry or game birds; fifty-one, other birds; two hundred and seventy-eight contained mice; one hundred and thirty-one, other mammals; thirty-seven, frogs and related animals or reptiles; forty-seven, insects; eight, crawfish; one, centipedes; thirteen, offal, and eighty-nine were empty. This surely is not a bad showing for this bird, so often maligned by being called “hen” or “chicken-hawk.” Its preferred food is evidently the smaller mammals, and as it is common or even abundant it must be of great value to agricultural interests. The younger birds are more apt to take poultry because of “a lack of skill in procuring a sufficient quantity of the more usual prey.”
Mr. P. M. Silloway says, “None of the Hawks has suffered more undeserved persecution than has the Red-tailed Buzzard or Hawk, whose characteristics place it among the ignoble falcons, or hawks, of feudal times. Lacking the swiftness and impetuosity of attack peculiar to the true falcons, it depends on its ability to surprise its prey and drop upon it when unable to escape.”