234 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



probably nearly all of the States. Mr. Gosse did not meet with it in 

 Jamaica. 



Mr. Audubon states that he found its nest usually placed in the forks of 

 the branch of an oak-tree, towards its extremity. In general appearance it 

 resembles that of the common Crow, being composed externally of numer- 

 ous crooked sticks, and having a slight lining of grasses and a few feathers. 

 The eggs he describes as three or four in number, almost globular, large for the 

 size of the bird, of a dull white color, granulated and rougli to the touch. 



Dr. Hoy, in a communication to the Boston Natural History Society, 

 mentions finding four nests of this Hawk in a single season, and his careful 

 observations of the habits of the parent birds enabled him to ascertain that 

 in each instance the birds began to sit constantly upon their nest as soon as 

 a single egg had been deposited, and that, as a consequence, the eggs having 

 been deposited at varying intervals, each one was found in a different stage 

 of incubation from the other. In not a single instance did he visit a nest 

 without finding the parent bird occupying it. 



These nests were all composed of sticks, rudely lined with strips of bark 

 and a few bunches of Usnea harbata. The nests were quite shallow and 

 small for a Hawk. Most of the eggs were sparingly sprinkled with umber- 

 brown. One set of these eggs was blotched with bluish-green, which soon 

 faded out. While the nests were being molested, the parent Hawk would 

 fly from tree to tree, uttering, in rapid succession, quick-quick-quick-quick. 



Dr. Hoy states that the male of this species, during the nesting-season, 

 may frequently be seen flying high in the air, sporting, vaulting, and turning 

 somersaults on the wing, which habit has given to it the name of Tumbler- 

 Hawk. No Hawk is harder to shoot, and none commits greater havoc among 

 barn-yard fowls than this species. He has seen one strike a large hen while 

 she was flying wildly for safety, and kill her on the spot, though it was 

 obliged to abandon the game, as it proved too heavy to carry off. 



I have specimens of its eggs from South Carolina, obtained by the young 

 sons of Eev. M. A. Curtis, of Society Hill. Mr. Curtis, Sen., furnished me 

 with the following description of its nest : " The nest of the Cooper's Hawk 

 was built in the triple fork of a tall black gum {Nyssa multifiorci), near the 

 top of the tree, which stood in a swamp. It was formed of a layer of 

 small sticks, J to | inch in diameter. Its external diameter varied from 

 1| to 2 feet. This layer was I of an inch in thickness, with only a slight 

 depression in the centre, hardly enough to keep the eggs from rolling out. 

 A few thin pieces of pine bark formed the bed for the eggs." 



Another nest, obtained in Randolph, Vt., by Charles S. Paine, Esq., is thus 

 described by him : " The nest was built of hemlock twigs, and lined with 

 small, thin pieces of hemlock bark, such as hang loosely on the tree. The 

 Hawk, when the nest was approached, did not whistle, as some others of 

 that family do, but uttered a cry of ge ! ge ! ge ! gc I This was repeated 

 several times, with great rapidity, by both male and female. 



