10 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 



pluck it with his bill, which he does very expertly, holding it mean- 

 time quite fast in his talons ; and, as soon as a portion is cleared of 

 feathers, tears the flesh in large pieces, and swallows it with great 

 avidity. 



" If it is a large bird, he leaves the refuse parts ; but, if small, 

 swallows the whole in pieces. Should he be approached by an 

 enemy, he rises with it, and flies off into the interior of the woods ; 

 or, if he happens to be in a meadow, to some considerable distance, 

 he being more wary at such times than when he has alighted on a 

 tree." — Audubon. 



The following very complete description of the breeding 

 habits of the Great-footed Hawk is from the pen of J. A. 

 Allen, of Springfield, Mass., one of onr most enthusiastic 

 students, published in the " Proceedings of the Essex Insti- 

 tute," vol. lY. : — 



" All accounts agree that the nest is placed on almost inaccessible 

 cliff's ; and often it can only be approached by a person being let 

 down by a rope from above. The old birds are repi'esented as bold 

 in the defence of their nest, approaching so near as generally to be 

 easily shot. They arrive early at their nesting-place ; and, though 

 they often bestow no labor in the construction of a nest, beyond the 

 scraping of a slight hollow in the ground, they defend their chosen 

 eyrie for weeks before the eggs are laid, and are known to return 

 for several years to the same site. Incubation commences very 

 early, the young having been found in the nest at Mount Tom, May 

 30, nearly fledged,^ and on Talcott Mountain, in the same condi- 

 tion, June 1 ; so that the laying of the eggs must occur by the last 

 of March, or very early in April. The number of eggs has been 

 known in several instances to be four. 



" Mountains Tom and Holyoke, in Massachusetts, aff'ord several 

 localities favorable for the nidification of the Duck Hawk ; and 

 sometimes several pairs, and probably usually more than one, breed 

 about these mountains.^ About the last of May, 1863, Mr. Bennett 



1 According to E. B. Hildreth, Esq., of Springfield, who visited this nest May 

 30, 1861, and noted the fact. The nest on Talcott Mountain, Conn., was found the 

 same season, and first visited only a few days later, — about June 1, 1861. 



2 Since the above was written, I have been informed by Mr. Bennett, that a 

 pair of these hawks actually raised their young on Mount Tom in the summer of 

 1864, notwithstanding one pair was broken up the same season. 



