[184] BIRDS OF OREGON 



in a canyon of the Blue Mountains. Dr. W. B. Bell, while with the 

 writers, shot a female on Hart Mountain, June 15, 192.6, that had a well- 

 developed incubation patch, and Gabrielson found a nest with young on 

 the Klamath Indian Reservation in June 1933. 



We had numbers of skins collected at all seasons of the year, including 

 several breeding birds from both eastern and western Oregon, and we had 

 also a number of eastern birds with which to compare them. The char- 

 acters supposed to separate the two subspecies were present in individual 

 skins, but after long study we were not able to correlate such variations 

 with any geographical range. Rather, they seemed distinctly to be cor- 

 related with age. In order to check our conclusions, we sent about a 

 dozen of our birds to the National Museum in Washington for comparison. 

 We then learned that Dr. Friedmann of that institution had already 

 reached the same conclusion; namely, that there were not two geo- 

 graphical races of Goshawk. Our specimens only added further evidence 

 to what he already possessed. His conclusions, based on much more 

 material than ours, will undoubtedly appear in print before our state- 

 ment does, so it seems unnecessary to elaborate further on the point. 



The Goshawk is the largest and fiercest of the hawks of its group, 

 which includes those other bird killers, the Sharp-shinned and Cooper's 

 Hawks. It lives largely on birds, being a persistent enemy of grouse and 

 pheasants. When the Blue and Ruffed Grouse take their broods to the 

 ridges in the late summer it is often possible to find a Goshawk sitting 

 on an inconspicuous perch in the thickest part of a tree waiting to take 

 advantage of the slightest let-down in the vigilance of the feeding covey. 

 If the Goshawk were more abundant, it might be to some limited extent 

 the factor in holding down grouse populations for which it receives the 

 blame among sportsmen. It is one of the rarer hawks of the State, how- 

 ever, and if the few breeding pairs remaining were to live throughout 

 the year on grouse, quail, and pheasants, the effect would not be noticeable. 



Sharp-shinned Hawk: 



Accipiter velox velox (Wilson) 



DESCRIPTION. "Adult male: Under parts white, heavily barred and spotted with 

 reddish brown; upper parts nearly uniform bluish gray; tail even or slightly notched with 

 three or four narrow blackish bands, and narrow white tip. Adult female: similar, 

 but duller, less blue above, less reddish below. Young: upper parts dark brown, 

 edged with rusty and with hints of white spotting; under parts white, often tinged 

 with buffy, streaked vertically with brown; sides and flanks barred with reddish 

 brown. Male: length 10.00-11.50, wing 6.10-7.10, tail 5.80-6.10. Female: length 

 11.50-14.00, wing 7.80-8.80, tail 6.60-8.10." (Bailey) Nest: Usually an old crow's, 

 magpie's, or squirrel's nest. Eggs: 4 to 5, greenish or grayish white, ,heavily 

 blotched and spotted with brown. 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeds from Alaska, Mackenzie, Manitoba, Ontario, Que- 

 bec, and Labrador south to northern Florida, Gulf coast, and central California. 



