V °g XI | Kennard, Habits of the Red-shouldered Hawk. 20Q 



have been scared away by the severe weather of December, to 

 return only when warmer weather was promised. 



That they may return in consecutive years to the same nest, 

 if not disturbed, and sometimes even when they have been 

 disturbed, I have no doubt. I personally have never found them 

 laying in the same nest two years in succession, though I have 

 known of their using the same nest twice, with an interval 

 between. They seem very apt to use their okl nests for roosting 

 and feeding places, as feathers from them, as well as from birds 

 they have killed, would seem to indicate. 



Although the Report on 'Hawks and Owls,' issued by the 

 Agricultural Department, seems to show that this bird is not 

 only harmless, but truly beneficial, I must say that Hawks 

 differ, and Red-shouldered Hawks certainly. 



If it were not for this personal equation, this individual charac- 

 teristic, as it were, where would the teachings of Darwin and 

 Spencer be ? 



In each of the Hawks of this species that I have examined, 

 I have invariably found feathers and birds' bones, and lots of 

 them. The frogs alone, of which they eat great numbers, would 

 seem to more than balance the injurious rodents of which they are 

 also fond ; and as for insects, I do not believe that the Brookline 

 Red-shouldered Hawks eat as many in a year as an ordinary 

 frog could in a day. They must differ in their habits, and 

 accommodate themselves to their surroundings. Perhaps they 

 are, as a species, beneficial, particularly where they hunt in open 

 country ; but in such country as we have around Brookline, I am 

 sure they do more harm than good. Both birds help build their 

 nest, a more or less clumsy structure of twigs, dried leaves, etc., 

 and almost invariably lined with fresh hemlock or pine boughs 

 and the long stringy inner bark of the hemlock tree or the outer 

 bark of the wild grapevine. The male also assists in the incuba- 

 tion. When their nest is disturbed they are more or less officious 

 according to their individuality, and according to the length of 

 time they have been setting. They are particularly worried if 

 their young are disturbed, though I have never known of their 

 really attacking a man. They may do so in the far West; but 

 they know us too well in the East. 



Their eggs, so far as I can judge, are generally laid at intervals 

 of about two days, and I have often noticed that if there is any 

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