THE OOLOGIST. 



105 



while every nest was not located, the 

 hawks were all at home : Cranberry at 

 Wauwecus, Long Society cranberry 

 bog, railroad bog in Lisbon, and bogs 

 in Sprague, Franklin, Preston and Led- 

 yard. Mr. Brand used to find the mole 

 hawk breeding in the bog now covered 

 by the Sachem park skating pond. 

 There are two bogs on the Davis-Kim- 

 ball trout brook and one in North Ston- 

 ington, always peopled by harriers. It 

 was here that Mr. Trumbull, on sud- 

 denly coming on a nest with a full com- 

 plement, exclaimed : ' 'Gracious ! There 

 are more than a bushel of eggs!" A 

 set of seven eggs from this place now 

 in Washington, are as brightly marked 

 as the average set of Red-shoulders. 

 Two harriers I saw in woods this season, 

 and I saw both in trees for a wonder. 

 But though terrestrial in habits and 

 oftenest seen skimming low over the 

 surface of the ground, yet when stand- 

 ing by a nest of young marsh hawks 

 I have seen the parents soar overhead, 

 higher and higher, in narrowing spirals, 

 till lost in the sky. 



The total disappearance of the Sharp- 

 shinned hawk around Norwich has been 

 a matter of much comment. Indeed, it 

 is growing rarer everywhere, for I am 

 constantly receiving letters from collec- 

 tors in the west and south desiring 

 Sharpshins' eggs and offering in ex- 

 change choice foreign rarities. The 

 Sharp-shinned hawk used to be common 

 here, and I have found it breeding at 

 Brewsters' Neck, Harvey's Grove, 

 Rockwell's woods, ex-Senator Barnes' 

 woods, East Side, in Bill park, in hem- 

 locks back of Harry Jennings' barn on 

 Laurel Hill avenue, in a grove opposite 

 the Norwich and Worcester depot, and 

 at Pinehurst, in the heart of the city. 

 Indeed, its domestic habits and its 

 its fearlessness has led to its destruc- 

 tion. In town and country it has been 

 hunted by the small boy with a gun, 

 whose ambition has been "to shoot a 

 pigeon hawk." Mr. Thurston Lilli- 



bridge, fannerlike once threw a set of 

 six eggs on the ground from a nest in 

 an easy hemlock in the Widow Law's 

 brook, above the city reservoir. Only 

 think, ye oologists ! Throwing away a 

 set of these incomparable eggs, the 

 very showiest hawk's eggs, and dis- 

 playing more variation than any eggs 

 known ! 



The larger Accipiter, Cooper's hawk, 

 though much more destructive to farm- 

 ers than its cogener, the little Sharp- 

 shin, has fared much better locally. 

 Wherever I was looking up the buteos, 

 I found this saucy robber at home, in 

 evergreen, or deciduous trees, in 

 swamps, or on high land, building his 

 own house, or using old crow's or cast 

 off hawk's nests. Coopers are sharp 

 enough to put off laying until they can 

 have leafy screens, while the poor but- 

 eos, whose homes in leafless chestnuts 

 are easily found by farmers, have to 

 suffer for the poultry raids of the Coop- 

 er. 



April 27th, I saw a Sparrow hawk 

 come out of a wacup's hole on the 

 Brickyard road. There are three in- 

 stances of its breeding in dove cotes in 

 in this city. Somehow, through its in- 

 conspicuous habits and dress, this bird 

 has escaped the too handy shotgun, and 

 is increasing in this locality. By actual 

 trial I find that all kinds of young 

 hawks taken from the nest can be easily- 

 raised in confinement, but for many 

 reasons do not make desirable pets. 

 While at Dr. Fitch's school at Windham 

 I had many tame hawks. By means of 

 long kite strings and other rude ap- 

 liances, I tried in vain to revive the old 

 art of falconry. But I did discover that 

 the easiest obtainable and the best food 

 for the hungry hawks are the descend- 

 ants of the ancient frogs of Windham. 

 C. L. RAWSON. 



I lately saw a nicely, marked set of 

 Marsh Hawk taken in Orleans county, 

 N. Y. , some 9 years ago. Not many 

 Oologists would throw away a set of 



