half -distant copse. Chee-hoo, ker-weeoo, weeoo, weeoo. The fox sparrow has 

 found his voice. 



There is a sweetness and vivacity about the song which wins our admira- 

 tion at once. It speaks so eloquently of anticipated joy, that we must envy the 

 bird his summer glade in wild Keewatin. Our vesper sparrow whistles a some- 

 what similar tune, but he is all contentment, realization now, and at half that 

 cost. Professor T. C. Smith, who has been exceptionally favored at Columbus, 

 says in this connection : "The voice of the fox sparrow in its full power is clear, 

 sustained, and rendered rich by overtones. It has not, of course, the metallic ring 

 of the thrushes or the bobolink, it is rather the sparrow or finch voice at its best, 

 a whistle full of sweetness with continual accompanying changes of timbre. 



"Unlike most of the sparrows the fox sparrow displays an ability to let his 

 notes drop into one another by a quick flexible slide, usually accompanied by a 

 slight change in timbre, which is the characteristic of the warbling birds such as 

 the vireos. In this respect he surpasses all of his race that I have ever heard 

 except the rose-breasted grosbeak and the cardinal." 



More frequently the fox sparrows are heard singing — sometimes in chorus — 

 in a subdued tone or half-voice. The effect at such a time is very pleasing, but 

 one does not get any adequate impression of the bird's powers of modulation or 

 sweetness. 



Cooper's Hawk {Accipiter cooperi) 



Length, about 15 inches. Medium sized, with long tail and short wings, and 

 without the white patch on rump winch is characteristic of the marsh hawk. 



Range : Breeds througliout most of the United States and southern Canada ; 

 winters from the United States to Costa Rica. 



Ha])its and economic status: The Cooper's hawk, or "blue darter," as it 

 is familiarly known throughout the South, is preeminently. a poultry and bird- 

 eating species, and its destructiveness in this direction is surpassed only by that 

 of its larger congener, the goshawk, whicli occasionally in autumn and winter 

 enters the United States from the North in great numbers. The almost uni- 

 versal prejudice against birds of prey is largely due to the activities of these two 

 birds, assisted by a third, the sharp-shinned hawk, wliich in habits and appear- 

 ance might well pass for a small Cooper's hawk. These birds usually approach 

 under cover and drop upon unsuspecting victims, making great inroads ujxdh 

 poultry yards and game coverts favorably situated for this style of hunting. Out 

 of 123 stomachs examined, 38 contained the remains of poultry and game birds, 

 66 the remains of other birds, and 12 the remains of mammals. Twenty-eight 

 species of wild birds were identified in the above-mentioned material. This de- 

 structive hawk, together with its two near relatives, should be destroyed by every 

 possible means. 



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