



1909] The Ottawa Naturalist. 157 



these were returning, probably one dozen out of 100, this would 

 leave 75 which crossed the lake in 1 1 minutes, which is at the rate 

 of about 400 per hour. They did not fly in these numbers at all 

 times of the morning, but so far as we were able to judge, the 

 flight continued all day and we recorded 900 Sharp-shinned 

 Hawks, 50 Marsh Hawks, 10 Cooper's Hawks, 3 Duck Hawks, 

 and 1 Fish Hawk. The total number of species seen besides 

 these 6 Hawks was only 13, and of small birds that might be 

 ^ considered legitimate prey for the hawk, we saw only 50 speci- 

 mens divided among eight species, so it will be seen that almos. 

 every species vanished completely. The supposition is th t 

 birds which lived in the upper branches were all eaten, but t . 

 fact that we kicked out of the bushes occasional White-throat-, 

 etc., goes to show that ground-loving and shrub-loving birds 

 concealed themselves with tolerable efficacy. A pair of wrens 

 scolded me from a clump of juniper, but would not leave their 

 shelter, although I was within 5 or 6 feet of them. Two or three 

 White-throats, which flew out of another juniper clump at ihy 

 approach, immediately concealed themselves elsewhere and 

 when, after watching them for a little while, I moved again, 

 another one jumped out of the clump within 5 feet of me. 



It is hard to say just where these hawks passed the night, 

 but certainly as they went down in the morning, they looked 

 hungry; all of them apparently were hunting for breakfast, and 

 it was not until nearly 10, that a few of them appeared with a 

 visible crop, showing that they had fed. They stooped at one 

 another often and occasionally one would be seen in hot pursuit 

 of some small bird, but in every case the latter escaped. Many 

 of the hawks came through the woods and down the trail at a 

 distance of only a few feet from the ground, hoping no doubt to 

 surprise their prey. 



In the few hawks taken, we identified the remains of the 

 Wood Pewee, White-throated Sparrow and Olive-backed Thrush. 

 Nearly all of the feathered clusters seen on the ground, where the 

 meal had taken place, consisted of the remains of the Thrush. 



Even mid-winter showed no such lack of birds, as these 

 two hawk-ridden days. The flight had been delayed beyond its 

 usual time and doubtless this contributed to a congestion of 

 hawks, and the fact that such a large percentage of them crossed 

 the water at once, leads one to suppose that their domination will 

 be short this vear. Certainlv they will not stay where food is not 

 reasonably plentiful, when 'by crossing the lake and spreading 

 over the country they will be" able to get their meals with much 

 greater regularity than bv staying on Point Pelee. 



At one time I chanced to be watching a hawk, which was 

 about 200 vards awav, when, apparently sighting a small bird m 



