NORTHERN RED-SHOULDERED HAWK 193 



has noticed the same individual traits in his 10-year records of four 

 pairs near Brookline, Mass. Some individuals always leave the nest 

 quietly before we are near enough to see them and do not show them- 

 selves afterward. Others fly as soon as we come within sight, and 

 still others wait until we rap on the tree or start to climb it. A 

 common behavior is for one or both birds to circle about overhead, 

 screaming, for a while and then gradually to drift away. On rare 

 occasions I have had one remain close by, flying from tree to tree and 

 swooping at me as she passed, but I have never had one strike me. 

 Once one perched in a tree above me, stretched out her head, ruffed 

 up the feathers of her neck in a menacing pose, and screamed angrily. 

 E. B. Williamson (1913), of Bluifton, Ind., describes the actions of a 

 very bold and savage pair that he encountered for two seasons; he 

 writes : 



One of the parents remained iu tlie top of the tree calling fiercely but not 

 moving. No attention was paid to it or to the other parent which was not 

 noticed at the time. Just as I stood up on tiptoes to look in the nest this other 

 parent gave me a hard blow on the side of my head, fortunately striking the 

 heavy felt hat I wore in which three sharp cuts about half an inch long were 

 made. My scalp was slightly cut by the unexpected attack, which resulted in a 

 decided headache. Being thus put on my guard, I watched this parent, which 

 soon returned to the attack, flying from the top of a tall tree about one hundred 

 and fifty feet from me, straight at my head. I struck at it, but missed and the 

 bird swerved, missing my face by about a foot. A third similar attack was 

 made, but in this case the bird missed me by about three feet. All this time 

 the other parent remained possibly fifteen feet directly over me, calling shrilly. 



The following year his experience with this pair was equally in- 

 teresting, for he (1915) says: 



Both birds met me at the edge of the woods and flew about with noisy scream- 

 ing at some elevation as I walked westward. At the west side of the woods I 

 turned and walked in a northeasterly dii'ection directly towards the beech tree 

 in which the first set of eggs were taken in 1913. The female was in a tree top 

 near this beech and when I was possibly 200 feet away she launched herself 

 directly at me. I could hardly conceive &he would attack me as I stood on the 

 ground, but she came straight on and I had to drop to my knees to avoid her 

 blow. She alighted west of me and I walked on toward the nest, watching her 

 over my shoulder. I had hardly stepped forward when she again dashed to the 

 attack with more fierceness possibly than before and I again was compelled to 

 drop to my knees. She came to rest about 30 feet from me in a small maple 

 where she rested in a threatening attitude for some time while I stood admiring 

 her. Her plumage was perfect, her breast being almost red, and her attitude 

 of fearless defiance as she stood leaning toward me made a picture impossible 

 to forget. She made no further attacks till I began climbing the tree when she 

 struck at me viciously four times. It is needless to say I kept her in sight all 

 the time, keeping the tree between us as much as possible, and jerking my head 

 out of the way to avoid her outreached claws. 



Mr. Rathbun writes to me : "We think it a habit of the male red- 

 shouldered to perch during the night near the nest on which his 



