192 BULLETIN 16 7, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Edward H. Forbush (1927) writes: 



Mr. Wilbur Smith informed me that a Red-shouldered Hawk appeared in 

 Birdcraft Sanctuary, Fairfield, Connecticut, on January 1, 1920, and was seen 

 by the superintendent daily for two months thereafter. There were nine 

 pheasants in the sanctuary and also a bantam hen with several chicks in a coop, 

 open at the top, but neither chickens nor pheasants were molested by the hawk. 

 About February first it entered a hen-yard, where it found a skinned deer's neck 

 and a dead opossum, and it fed on the carrion every day for about two weeks, 

 while the hens merely withdrew to the coop. Mr. Frank Novak, the superin- 

 tendent, saw the rooster standing one day within four feet of the hawk. During 

 the worst kind of weather this bird did not molest a bird or a chicken, but it 

 was repeatedly seen to catch rats and mice. 



On the other side of the question Fred H. Kennard (1894a) says: 



In each of the Hawks of this species that I have examined, I have invariably 

 found feathers and birds' bones, and lots of them. The frogs alone, of which 

 they eat great numbers, would seem to more than balance the injurious rodents 

 of which they are also fond ; and as for insects, I do not believe that the 

 Brookline Red-shouldered Hawks eat as many in a year as an ordinary frog 

 could in a day. They must differ in their habits, and accommodate themselves 

 to their surroundings. Perhaps they are, as a species, beneficial, particularly 

 where they hunt in open country ; but in such country as we have around 

 Brookline, I am sure they do more harm than good. 



These hawks often use their old nests as feeding stations; these 

 often show more or less down, which tempts us to climb to them, only 

 to find that they have not been repaired and that they contain only 

 remnants of animals and birds that the hawks have eaten. 



Behavior. — The soaring flight of the red-shouldered hawk, oftenest 

 seen during the early part of the nesting season, is much like that of 

 the other large Biiteos. It is powerful and graceful, often protracted 

 to a great height and occasionally ending in a thrilling nose dive. 

 Often, while hunting, it glides swiftly along on rigid wings just over 

 the tops of the forest trees or even through the woods ; again it glides 

 low over the marshes or meadows in search of frogs or mice. Its 

 coloration is concealing in the lights and shadows of the forest, where 

 it can slip up unawares on the squirrels in the trees, or pounce down 

 upon its humbler prey on the ground. When flying from its nest it 

 swoops downward and flaps away in rather heavy flight, quite unlike 

 the bulletlike dash of the Accipiters. On returning to its nest it flies 

 low and glides up to it in an easy curve. When circling above the 

 intruder at its nest and screaming, it does a great deal of flapping, 

 interspersed with short sailings, and then it may glide off out of 

 sight. As with all hawks, the feet are extended behind, a little below 

 the tail. 



There is considerable variation in the behavior of different indi- 

 viduals about their nests, and we have noticed that these individual 

 characteristics are apparent year after year. Mr. Kennard (1894a) 



