Buteo jamaicensis
Order Accipitriformes
Family Accipitridae
Subfamily Accipitrinae
Adult.— Upper parts brown; tail deep reddish; under parts white, more or less heavily streaked with brown.
Immature.— Similar to adult, but tail brown, crossed by numerous blackish bands.
Nest, in tall trees.
Eggs, dull white, more or less spotted with brown.
The Red-tailed Hawk breeds throughout New England and the Hudson Valley, but except in the wilder and more hilly portions of New England it is less common than the Red-shouldered Hawk. Though the species is a permanent resident, there is a regular migration in spring and fall; sometimes a large number pass over in a day. The bird’s hunting and nesting habits are similar to those of the Red-shouldered Hawk; its notes have already been described (see preceding species). In the glens among the mountains the high, sputtering cry of the Red-tailed Hawk is a not uncommon sound, and a day hardly passes without a sight of the majestic bird soaring overhead. Even when the hawk is high in air, if it is an adult, the reddish tail shows as the bird wheels.
Hoffmann – A Guide to the Birds of New England and Eastern New York (1904)