COOPER'S HAWK 269 



not, he says, circle through the air in search of 

 food, but skulk around in thick trees and bushes, 

 and pounce on their prey when least expected. 

 When they seize a bird or mammal, no matter 

 how small it may be, they always fly at once to 

 the ground with it. When they wish to carry 

 their prey to any distance, they do it by short 

 flights just above the ground. They have a pe- 

 culiar habit of stretching out their legs as far as 

 they can, as soon as they seize their quarry, as if 

 they were afraid of what they had caught." 



The nests of the Sharp-shinned are very large 

 for the size of the bird, and are in trees, from 

 fifteen to forty feet from the ground. The eggs 

 vary from bluish white to cream buff heavily 

 spotted with brown. 



Cooper's Hawk : Accipiter cooperi. 

 (Fig. 166, p. 270.) 



End of tail decidedly rounded ; crown blackish ; rest of upper 

 parts dark brown ; under parts barred with reddish brown 

 and white. Length, male, 15^ inches ; female, 19 inches. 



Geographic Distkibution. — Breeds from the Gulf of Mex- 

 ico to Newfoundland, and winters from Massachusetts to 

 Mexico. 



Doctor Fisher has found that the food of 

 Cooper's Hawk, like that of the little Sharp- 

 shinned, consists almost entirely of wild birds and 

 poultry, and as CoojDer's is larger and stronger, 

 it does much more harm in the dove-cote and 

 hen-yard. Indeed, its devastations amount to 



