280 KORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



during my stay iu lioxbury, a pair of these Hawks were residents within a 

 few hundred yards of the house, where, as they never molested tlie tenants 

 of the barn-yard, they were not allowed to he disturbed. Their breeding- 

 place we could not liud, but tliey kept about an open spring during the 

 winter, feeding upon small game, and were not at all sliy. One of them 

 unfortiuuitely was wounded, and was kept in coulinement several days. 

 It was the male liinl, iu full adult plumage, and was by no means wild, 

 feeding readily upon what was given to it, even willi our near presence. It 

 would not tolerate a too great familiarity, but manifested great irritation if 

 we attempted to approach it. Its wing had been badly shattered, and it 

 finally died from mortificatiou of the wound. It would never submit to 

 be handled, and fought desperately when we sought to have its limb 

 bound up. After we gave up this attempt as impossible it became rather 

 more familiar, and would even at last greet me with a welcome cry of recog- 

 nition, and take its food from my hand. 



Wilson, in speaking of the adult bird, states that this Hawk has a high 

 and very irregular flight, and is (piite different from that of species witli 

 longer wings. In his account of the immature plumage, he notes its 

 arrival in Pennsylvania early in November, and its departure in ilarch. 

 He speaks of it as a dexterous catcher of frogs, and adds tliat it sometimes 

 so stuffs itself that it can fly with difticulty. He has found the remains of 

 ten frogs in the stomach of a single individual. 



The Eed-shouldered Hawk constructs a large nest, not unlike that of the 

 Crow, in the forked branches of a high tree. It is composed externally of 

 sticks, and is lined with moss and soft leaves. The eggs are four in number, 

 and occasionally three or two. When the nest is approached, the bird utters 

 loud, frequent, and peculiar cries of alarm and resentment, net unlike kee- 

 00 ! rapidly repeated, but makes no attempt at resistance. The pair return 

 year after year to the same nest, even wdien it has been rolibed the previous 

 season. 



The eggs of this Hawk are of a very uniform spheroidal-oval sliajie, but 

 sliglitly pointed at one end, and exhibit certain very general characteristics 

 in the colors of their markings, but vary greatly in their size. The length 

 varies from 2.20 to 2.00, and the breadth from 1.81 to 1.5G. The ground- 

 color is usually a dingy white, rarely pure white, and frequently with de- 

 cidedly brownish tinge. The blotches are most frequently of a yellowish 

 umber color; sometimes blotches of sienna-brown, slate-drab, and more ob- 

 scure shades of brown are present, and these colors are not unfrequently 

 confusedly mingled. An egg from Cheraw, S. C, has a ground-color of a 

 light drab, tinged ^vith slate and without any blotches whatever. It is not 

 uncommon to find tliese nearly unspotted eggs in the same nest with others 

 very boldly and profusely blotclied. The Cheraw egg measures 2.00 by 1.56 

 inches ; an egg from Massachusetts, 2.20 by 1.81 : their relative capacity 

 being nearly as three to four. Tliey average about 2.10 by 1.68 inches. 



