2IO 



AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



unfortunate in being shot down indiscriminately with other kinds. It has 

 always seemed strange that so many persons can see no difference among 

 the hawks. They appear to recognize but one class, the fowl destroyer. 

 All large hawks are to them "hen hawks" and all small ones "chicken 

 hawks." In their narrow mindedness they consider they are doing the 

 country a favor in ridding it of these imagined pests, and they wonder 

 why the insects are destroying their trees and the rodents their crops. 

 But to return to the "Broad-wings." They feed chiefly on meadow mice, 

 squirrels, grasshoppers, frogs, and beetles, and rarely destroy birds. 



Some localities seem to have a strong attraction for them, particularly 

 heavy pieces of woodland near some lake or pond, and they return to the 

 same place year after year. As long as I can remember a pair of them 

 have occupied a small piece of woods near here. Although they have fre- 

 quently been molested they show no desire to leave. They build a new 

 nest each year, the one of the previous year generally having fallen to 

 pieces during the winter. To my mind the birds are always associated 

 with the creaking of the trees during a storm, their note to me resembling 

 that noise. Others liken it to the notes of the Killdeer,, Always during 

 the breeding season, as I enter the wood 1 am greeted with a "cree-ee" 

 from the farther end. They are very keen sighted and glide away from 

 the nest as soon as the woods are entered, and rarely come in sight even 

 when you are very near the nest. Their wailing cry is continued at in- 

 tervals until you leave the neighborhood. 



Photo by E. E. JOHNSON. 



NEST OF BROAD-WINGED HAWK. 



