Grey Hawk (Buteo nitidus) Science Article 1
abstract
On 23 April 1876, near Fort Bayard, Grant County, New Mexico, Frank Stephens collected two sets of eggs that he identified as those of the Gray Hawk (Buteo nitidus). Through the years this identification has been accepted without question, but my recent study of the matter suggests strongly that the eggs are actually those of the Cooper’s Hawk (Accipiter cooperii). Factors arguing against the eggs being those of B. nitidus are their coloration and size, the time of year collected, the nesting habitat, and the lack of other verified records of the species in the state.
JOHN P. HUBBARD, The Auk: Vol. 91, No. 1