456 AVES— HAWK. 



one of these hawks dart down on the ground, and seize a mouse, which he 

 carried to a fence post ; where, after examining it for some time, he left it ; 

 and a little while after pounced upon another mouse, which he instantly 

 carried off to his nest in the hollow of a tree hard hy. The gentleman, 

 anxious to know why the hawk had rejected the first mouse, went up to it, 

 and found it to be almost covered with lice, and greatly emaciated ! Here 

 was not only delicacy of taste, but sound and prudent reasoning. — "If I 

 carry this to my n^st," thought he, " it will fill it with vermin ; and hardly 

 be worth eating." 



Many writers have spoken of this bird as inhabiting the West India islands, 

 and especially Hispaniola, whence the species has been commonly known 

 by the name of Saint Domingo hawks. Cayenne is given as its habitat by 

 Brisson and Buffon; Paraguay, by D'Azara; and the Straits of Magellan, by 

 Captain King. In the United States it usually builds in a hollow tree, and 

 generally at a considerable distance from the ground, but in the south it is 

 said to be more sociable, and D'Azara asserts that it will even take up its 

 abode in churches and other old buildings. It lays from two to four or five 

 eggs ; and the young when hatched are fed with small birds, grasshoppers, 

 and mice, the usual food of the parent birds. 



The note of this bird is so exactly imitated by the blue jay, as to deceive 

 even those acquainted with them both ; and, whether through fear or fascina- 

 tion, no sooner does he make his appearance in their neighborhood, than the 

 jays swarm around him and commence insulting him with their imitative 

 cries. In return for this, as might naturally be expected, they fall frequent 

 victims to his appetite. 



THE BLACK H A W K i 



Is a native of North America alone. It is a remarkably shy and wary bird, 

 found most frequently along the marshy shores of large rivers ; feeds on 

 mice, frogs, and moles; sails much and sometimes at a great height; has 

 been seen to kill a duck on the wing; sits by the side of the marshes on a 

 stake for half an hour at a time, as if dozing; flies with great ease, and 

 occasionally with great swiftness, seldom flapping his wings; is most 

 numerous with us in winter, and but rarely seen in summer ; is remarkable 

 for the great size of its eye, length of its wings, and shortness of its toes 

 The breadth of its head is likewise uncommon. We have no account of its 

 place or manner of breeding. 



F. nigcr, Wilson. 



