BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 177 



reach the State in pairs, often in the last days of March but 

 not usually later than the fifth of April, but do not build until 

 about the fifth or the tenth of May. 



The nest is like most hawks' nests, rather bulky and consists 

 of sticks, twigs, grass and a few leaves, and is placed in a 

 fork of the tree about fifty to sixty feet from the ground. 

 The full complement is six cream-white eggs, considerably 

 splotched with iron-rust and speckled with dark brown. 



After the young are grown they are met with in families in 

 their hunting excursion, when they extend them into small 

 prairies, openings in immediate proximity to forests, being 

 their natural territory, into which they glide instantly in the 

 presence of supposed danger. Openings in the timber afford 

 them their chosen food, insects of the larger varieties and 

 reptiles of the smaller species, from which they affect those 

 so large as to be called small prairies, that are however more 

 or less embraced by bodies of timber. Late in summer they 

 almost subsist upon grasshoppers alone, so abundant are they 

 habitually at that season almost everywhere in the State. 

 About the first of September they leave us for warmer lati- 

 tudes. Rarely some remain a little later, if severe frosts are 

 delayed. 



Their flight is simply a marvel of grace, ease and velocity 

 that must be seen to be fully appreciated. When a "hopper," 

 lizzard, or a diminutive snake is discovered by one of them, it 

 drops upon it more like a snowflake than a raptorial bird. Feet 

 and bill seem to seize the victim simultaneously, but it is in- 

 stantly relinquished by the foot, if an insect, and by the bill if 

 a reptile. Mr. Washburn, who found the species common at 

 Mille Lacs and otherwheres that he went, gives an account of 

 one of these birds, after being annoyed by a blackbird (possi- 

 bly by a purple martin), quick as a flash turning upon its back, 

 seizing its pestiferous assailant and bearing him remorselessly 

 away for an unexpected luncheon. It is not accounted a very 

 brave hawk, but it is a mistake that they will not fight if at bay 

 with a broken wing. The extremely pointed talons, although 

 not as powerful as are those of many others of the hawks, are 

 capable of inflicting severe w^ounds. when sustained by a very 

 cruel beak. They are not inclined to fight unless driven to it, 

 but their discretion is seldom wanting when danger comes, out 

 of which those long, pointed wings bear them with the speed 

 of an arrow. 



