266 'l'K()\viiUii)(;i;, Ifav.'h F/ii;///s in Comic, f/'ciif. \^^^ 



Archibuteo lagopus sancti-johannis. A.mickican R()r(;ii-Lic(;(;Ku Hawk. 

 Not vei'v rare in the cold season on tlic low mai'sh lands. 



Haliaeetus leucocephalus. I'.ai.d EAciLE. — Resident. A few pairs 

 l)reed within the State. L'oninion in September in 'flights.' 



Falco peregrinus anatum. DutK Hawk. — Rare resident. On May 9, 

 188S, a nest with three t'resli eii^i^s was found on a cliff, twelve miles from 

 New lla\en, Conn. Occasionally shot in the fall. 



Falco columbarius. Pkjeon 'Hawk. — Resident, hut rare at all times, 

 except in September. No record of its nestini; within the State has yet 

 been established. 



Falco sparverius. American Si'arkow Hawk. — Resident; but does 

 not breed very abundantly. Ver^- common in ' llit^hts,' when two, three, 

 or four are generally found migrating together. 



Pandion haliaetus carolinensis. Osi'kkv. — Common summer resident. 

 \'erv abundant during September. 



In the spring for a number of years, I used to be constantly in 

 the field in southern Conneticut, and yet I have never noticed any 

 gathering of hawks, nor have I ever found them at all numerous 

 at any time during that season. And those which were seen dur- 

 ing the spring were, for the most part, birds which were nesting 

 in that locality. 



As is well known, hawks are not usually gregarious in their 

 habits, and yet at various times they have appeared in immense 

 fiocks, and have been found to be migrating together in vast num- 

 bers, as in the flights which have been observed along the Connec- 

 ticut coast, on certain days in the fall. 



Taking into consideration the conditions which existed during 

 the time of all the hawk Hights, such as the strong northerly winds 

 and the cool and clear state of the weather, and also keeping in 

 mind the outline of the southern portion of the New England 

 coast, the correct solution of the origin of these Hights can perhaps 

 be obtained by finding causes in these conditions. 



It is my belief that the manner in which the flights of hawks 

 occurred was as follows. All the southern border of Connecticut 

 is washed by Long Island Sound, and the entire shore lies nearly 

 in an east and west direction. When the migrating hawks flew 

 southward with the strong northerly winds, and arrived at the 

 Sound, rather than lly over the water, they would tinn westward 

 and proceed along the coast until they arrived at the State of New 

 York, where they would continue southward, through New Jersey 



