238 BULLETIN 16 7, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



States from North Carolina to Pennsylvania and New Jersey, overland from 

 Tennessee, Cumberland and possibly Ohio valleys. More complete data may 

 show a South Atlantic coast migi'ation of which I have no hint. 



Many observers have noted and published accounts of the great 

 spring flights of these and other hawks. They have regular flyways 

 that they follow year after year, along river valleys or the shores of 

 large lakes or even along the coast line ; they seem to dislike to cross 

 large bodies of water and deviate from their main northward or 

 northeastward course to avoid such crossings. Heavj'' spring flights 

 occur along the coast of New Jersey, northeastward across New 

 England and eastward and northeast-ward along the shores of Lakes 

 Erie and Ontario. The birds usually fly high, sometimes almost out 

 of sight, in loose straggling flocks or small parties. On favorable 

 days, with westerly winds, they may be seen passing in a steady, 

 widely scattered stream all day long. Some days the sky seems to 

 be full of them, as far up as one can see. Broadwings are often ac- 

 companied by redtails, redshoulders, roughlegs, Accipiters, small 

 falcons, and ospreys. Wlien they fly low, as they often do, many are 

 killed in regularly organized hawk shoots, for sport or with the 

 mistaken idea that they are vermin. 



Dr. Thomas S. Eoberts (1932) thus describes a big flight that 

 occurred in Minnesota : 



Toward evening on April 21, 1925, a vast flight of Hawks arrived from the 

 south and settled in the numerous trees of both towns and all the groves and 

 tree-claims, from several miles west of Wheaton to several miles east of 

 Herman— a front of at least twenty-five miles. They remained until the fol- 

 lowing evening when all the survivors left, going northward. The appearance 

 of the Hawks on the evening of the twenty-first brought out every man who 

 owned a gun in both towns and most of the farmers in the surrounding coun- 

 try. It was stated that residents of Wheaton stood on their lawns and shot 

 dozens from the trees and as they circled about. At the same time a similar 

 fusillade was in progress at Herman and on the farms between and adjoining. 

 It was estimated that at least three thousand Hawks were killed at Wheaton 

 and one thousand at Herman. A "Crow-shoot" happened to be in progress 

 at Wheaton and the participants brought in one thousand five hundred of 

 these Hawks. There is no way of estimating how many were killed by the 

 farmers, but the number was probably many hundreds, if not thousands. No 

 one can venture a guess as to how many Hawks were included in this vast 

 flight! It would seem as though all the Broad-wing population of the north 

 country must have been traveling in company. 



Courtship. — As this and other Buteos are probably mated for life, 

 the love making is largely expressed in nuptial flights in which both 

 birds flap or soar in small circles, frequently passing close together 

 and occasionally darting down at one another in a playful mood. 

 Mr. Preston (1888) says: "During the mating season (which begins 

 about the first week in May), the clear, shrill scream constantly 

 echoes in the dim woods, as one answers back to another from some 

 chosen perch." 



