246 Roddy oh Feedhig Habits of Toung Rapt ores. IJ^'y 



them for foxes, in whose company, or rather in proximity to 

 whose dens, I have sometimes found the young in their nests. 

 If 11 dog approaches near enough, the young Buzzard will attack 

 him with bill, claws, and wings, using them very effectively. 



Accipiter cooperi. — A young Cooper's Hawk I took from 

 the nest when quite small, probably not more than two weeks 

 after being hatched. It was without any difficulty reared to full 

 size; indeed, to more than full size, for the abundance of good 

 food and favorable conditions made it attain a more than ordinary 

 size. In length it grew two and a half inches, and in alar expanse 

 four inches, greater than the largest specimen in my collection, 

 or of which I had any record. 



It was a great eater. When six weeks old it ate nine English 

 Sparrows {Passer dotnesticzis) and a common mouse {Mus 

 7nuscul2is) in one day ; and ate on an average eight Sparrows a 

 day from that time until it was ten weeks old. 



At first I removed the remiges and rectrices and some of the 

 other stirter feathers of the birds I fed it. But when it had at- 

 tained considerable size I gave it its food without such prepara- 

 tion. The bird ate them, feathers and all. This, however, 

 influenced the amount it ate, — as one would naturally suppose, 

 since these larger feathers filled up the crop and stomach, some- 

 times giving the bird trouble to eject them when the digestible 

 portions had been absorbed. After attaining full growth it 

 gradually came to be more choice in the selection of food, and 

 always removed all of the larger feathers. 



The bird became very much attached to me. and even when 

 it could fly and was allowed its liberty did not leave, but returned 

 every few hours for its food, which I always liberally provided. 

 How long it would have continued to do this I do not know, as 

 the experiment ended with its death. It was shot by one who 

 did not know it was my pet. 



In eating the bird tore its food to pieces with the bill, nearly 

 always beginning at the entrails. It almost always seemed 

 to relish the intestines more than any other part of the bird or 

 animal, sometimes eating only this part and leaving the rest. 

 When the bird or animal was still warm and the blood therefore 

 uncoagulated, it tore it open and apparently bathed the bill 

 in the blood and the visceral juices. It apparently sucked up 

 these fluids in order to allay thirst. But I invariably found it 



