92 The \\'ilson' Bulletin — Xo. (lO. 



the Point and a low miles inland. The birds wo saw wci-e tlying very 

 low and wo had a iiiay:nitii'ont view of theii' wondorrul flight. 



GS. *Circiii5 liudsoiiiciis, — Marsh Hawk. 



A common hawk, and seen almost every day on all our visits, boat- 

 ing slowly over the marsh-lands or soaring ovit the woods. It was 

 still common Oct. 15, 190G. Gardner observed them during the win- 

 ter of 190G-07, Dec. 1, Jan. 25, Feb. 13 and 23., As early as March 9 

 we saw two old blue adults beating over the still frozen marshes and 

 the snow covered meadows. 



Gd.*Accipiter vclox, — Sharp-shinned Hawk. 



The most interesting phenomena we have observed at the Point 

 centers about this bird. We have met this species only occasionally 

 on our May trips, but in the fall there is a truly astonishing flight 

 composed almost entirely of juveniles. This flight seems to be a reg- 

 ular annual occurrence and is looked for and expected by the resi- 

 dents. vSaunders first saw the flight in 1882 and descril>ed it to us in 

 such glowing terms that it. sounded like exaggeration. How-ever, on 

 Sept. 10, 1905, we saw for ourselves and only wondered at the re- 

 straint that he had used. Since then we observed the same thing in 



1906, and our latest I'eports from Gardner, the middle of September. 



1907, advises us that like conditions prevail again. Our earliest 

 Sharp-shin date is August 30, 1907. In 190G we saw one Sept. 3, and 

 the year previous there were some numbers present on our arrival 

 Sept. 4. 



After the coming of the first in the fall their numbers steadily in- 

 creased until from six to a dozen can be noted in a day, which in 

 most localities would be accounted common. Then there came a day. 

 Sept. 11, 1905, and Sept. 15, 190G, when the morning's tramp found 

 Sharp-shins everywhere. As we walked through the woods their 

 dark forms darted away between the tree trunks at every few steps. 

 Just over the tree tops, a steady stream of them was beating up and 

 down the length of the Point, while in the air they could often be dis- 

 cerned at every height until the highest looked like a mote floating 

 in the light. As concrete illustrations of the numl)er present : — In 

 1905 we stood in a little open glade and at various times of the day 

 counted from twenty-five to thirty in sight at one time and Saunders 

 writes, "When I saw the flight in 1882 it was probably even greater 

 than in 1905. Tliere were more Sharp-shins than one would suppose 

 were in Ontario, and one day my brother and I stood thirty paces 

 apart, facing each other, with doul)le-barrel. breech-loaders, and for 

 a short time the hawks passed so thick that we had to let some go 

 by unmolested because we could not load fast enough to fire at each 

 as it came." A farmer told us of sitting in his front yard one after- 

 noon and shooting fifty-six without leaving his chair. 



Early in the morning of the arrival of the flight there seems to be 



