THE NEW SPORT OF “HAWKING” 283 
to the other nest, from which one of the “Robins” had 
flown as I rapped the tree, and in which, much to his surprise, 
he found hve Sharp-shinned Hawk’s eggs ! 
A recent P'oiirth of July was very pleasantly passed by 
a mountain lake in Kent, away from the noise of man, but 
close to the heart of nature. The pleasantest part of it all 
was when, astride a branch forty feet up a hemlock, on the 
mountain-side overlooking the beautiful lake, I played with 
a brood of tiny Sharpshins in their nest, downy little fel¬ 
lows, no larger than newly hatched domestic chickens. Their 
mother was not so bold as some, and remonstrated only 
vocally from a distance. The nest contained feathers and 
bones of small birds, and yet, presently, just under a neigh¬ 
boring tree, where I sat to watch the hawk, a beautiful Black- 
throated Blue Warbler and a pair of Canada Warblers were 
gleaning insect food for young, unmindful of “ sharpshins ” 
which were liable at any time to be felt and to make orphans 
of their children. 
I will conclude this description of the hawks in their wild 
fastnesses by some account of their resorts as I have found 
them in North Dakota. In various explorations in strips 
of timber along the shores of lakes and rivers, in early May, 
I have found the Red-tailed and Cooper’s Hawks bleeding 
abundantly, with the Swainson’s and Sparrow Hawks getting 
readv to do so. The Red-tail here is the geographical race 
or subspecies called Krider’s Hawk, but it is essentially our 
old friend of the East. About every half-mile along the 
Goose River — wonderfully crooked, as are all prairie streams 
— I found a huge nest high up in some enormous tree, usu¬ 
ally an elm, seldom less than eighty feet from the ground. 
I wanted to see the eggs of Krider’s Hawk, yet did not feel 
equal to such terrible ascents. Fortunately I met a sailor, 
who was glad enough to go aloft from that flat prairie, — in 
