70 THE RAPTORIAL BIRDS OF IOWA 



Although March and April and September and October are the 

 months of their greatest abundance, I have taken one in the eastern 

 part of the state as late as December 20. 



It has been found nesting near Grinnell by Mr. Lynds Jones^ who 

 notes that they build in cavities of the Linden tree, or when nesting 

 in the open, choose "limbless trees, most frequently oaks, to nest in, 

 from 15 to 20 feet up." In the Iowa Ornithologist (October, 1897), 

 Mr. Paul Bartsch, writing on the "Birds of the Oneota Valley," says : 

 "Common : breeds in the crevices in the cliffs. The young are very 

 noisy and usually betray the nesting site by their notes. I examined 

 one of these abodes several hundred feet above the river on the cliff 

 adjacent to the Chicago and Milwaukee Railroad near its junction 

 with the Oneota, a little southwest of New Albin (Iowa Bluff), and 

 found numerous wings of the smaller birds, such as warblers, Black 

 Birds, Meadow Larks, Song Sparrows, Flickers, Robins, etc., etc., as 

 well as some bones belonging to small rodents, spermophiles perhaps, 

 scattered about the crevice. The young were large enough to vacate 

 the residence when I made my appearance (July 5, 1895), and I had 

 to be content to gaze upon the amount of mischief wrought by a fam- 

 ily of these falcons. The Sharp-shin surely has few redeeming fea- 

 tures, when we consider the amount of havoc he causes among our 

 small birds." 



The nest is unusually large for so small a hawk, and is "made of 

 dry sticks more or less compactly placed together, with or without a 

 sparse lining of soft inner bark or green leaves." 



The eggs are ordinarily deposited by the second or third week in 

 May, are heavily spotted and blotched with varying shades of brown, 

 and measure about 1.46x1.16 inches. 



The Sharp-shinned Hawks feed largely on small birds, many of 

 which are seed eaters, and devour quantities of weed-seed and there- 

 fore are of great economic value. 



Where young chickens are to be had the hawks are said to continue 

 their depredations as long as the supply of poultry holds out. 



The Sharp-shinned Hawk, Cooper's Hawk, and Goshawk, are re- 

 sponsible for the greater share of the blame which has been placed 

 upon hawks in general for the destruction of poultry. Of the three 

 species named, only the first two are found in Iowa during the warm- 

 er part of the year, and the Sharp-shinned Hawk fortunately is not 

 present in sufficient numbers to constitute the serious menace which 

 his naturally destructive instincts would otherwise permit him to be. 

 N. S. Goss says : "I admire their courage and dash, but cannot find 

 it in my heart to say one good word in their favor." 



