500 THE COOPER HAWK. 



chickens), \vc will k-t the law take its course in tlie case of this culprit. The 

 Cooper Hawk is guilty. He is the marauder. lie is /c bcU (liable sans iiicrci. 

 Songsters are his delight (gastronomic) and W'l » id W'arhlers he regards as 

 mere toothsome dainties. Poor de\il! We wiU turn our hacks while the 

 guillotine falls. 



( )ne ne\er gets a clearer insight into the ])os^ihilities of cruel rapacity 

 than when a Coopjer Hawk comes dashing up into a thicket where vou have 

 been ogling Sparrows, and Ijallled of his \ictim, stands for a moment panting 

 ill his rage, and flashing male\'olence from a hlood-red e\e. It is as tho an 

 emissary of the nether world liad broken from co\er ; and one feels all the 

 \irtue of a just cause in putting him to death. 



I'>ii"ds form eighty ])er cent of Cooper Hawk's food, and voung chickens 

 are counted in whene\er occasion offers. Game birds are occasionally cap- 

 tured, for the Conpcr I lawk is a fearless brigand: but when the birds are 

 scarce he descends to rabbits, go])hers, mice, grasshoppers, crickets, and similar 

 small (|uarry. I<"ortunately, the Cooper Hawk is not common in Washington, 

 \er\' much less so than the Sharp-shinned: it is so rare, indeed, that if does 

 not figure prominentl}' atuong the forces desfructixe to biivl life. 



lla\ing chosen a nesting site, the Coo])er llawl< becomes (|uite attached 

 to the localifN': and if undisturbed will return \ear after year. He haunts the 

 \icinit\' like an un(|uiet ghost, and nia\' lie lieard oftener than seen, \-oicing his 

 unrest in querulous notes, kck. Icck, l:rk. Icrlc. Ici'l:. Icclc. Icrk. lech. Sometimes 

 curiositx' gets the better of caution and he throws a few circles in the open, 

 swapijing confidences, as it were, witli the bu'd-man : and in return lor the few 

 sharp glances he bends downward, affords a full \ie\\ of his short, rounded 

 wings and his long, rmmdcd tail. One is impressed rather with the bird's 

 ease and nonclialance tlKin with its swiftness in flight: but it is a master at 

 checking .and tacking, so that few of the smaller birds are a match for it in 

 the open air, and nut all nf tliem in the mazes of the forest, which the 1 lawk' 

 threads relentlesslw 



In nesting, the bird not infre(|uently a\ails itself of an old Crow's nest, 

 taking pains to fill u]i the nesting Imlkixx- with twigs, and adding a few twigs 

 yearly in a desultory wa}'. Occasionally it a|.ipears to construct quite jjrcten- 

 tiou.s nests of its own, and in the aljsence of trees is said to build upon the 

 ground. 



The only records for western W^a.shington are of two nests with young, 

 located in June, IQ04, by Mr. Ed. L. Currier, of Tacoma : and one containing 

 five fresh eggs taken May 30, 1003, by Messrs. C. W. and J. H P)Owles. In 

 the last-named instance the nest bore e\idence of occupation for many years. 

 It was ])laced at a height of 70 feet in a large fir tree, surrounded by a dense 

 growth of lirs and maples, on low moist ground. The lining consisted of 

 freshly-liroken fir twigs to wdiich the green needles still clung. 



