76 THE RAPTORIAL BIRDS OF IOWA 



One of my earlier ornithological experiences was with a slightly 

 wounded Cooper's Hawk which I was over-anxious to secure. On 

 reaching out eager hands to grasp my prize I found that I was as 

 eagerly grasped in return. He was my prize, and I, for a time, was 

 truly his. 



Usually these birds are unresisting when the nest is approached, 

 though they utter their noisy protesting KAK-KAK-KAK-KAK- 

 KAK, especially if they have young. At times there is difficulty, even 

 on repeated visits, in obtaining sight of the bird as she silently slips 

 off the farther side of the nest. 



The nest may be built by the birds themselves, or an old crow's 

 nest may be remodeled. Second growth oaks or hickories are pre- 

 ferred, and the nest is commonly placed at a height of from twenty 

 to forty feet, the location being well chosen in a solid crotch near the 

 trunk of the tree. 



Sticks of varying size enter into its construction, and in the ma- 

 jority of cases even where the nest is built in an oak, the eggs are 

 laid upon the flat pieces of outer bark of the shell-bark hickory 

 with which the nest is meagerly lined. 



The eggs are light bluish white, either unmarked or with only a 

 few scattering reddish brown or purplish spots, and average ab'out 2 

 by 1.50 inches. Captain Bendire notes that fully one-half of the 

 Cooper's Hawk eggs in the National Museum collection are "spotted 

 with irregular markings or scrawls of different shades of brown, drab 

 or fawn color." I have never taken a noticeably marked set, and 

 have found four to be the usual complement, though one set of five 

 was collected. 



A second set will often be deposited if the first eggs are removed. 

 N. S. Goss, in speaking of the bills of fare of the Cooper's Hawk, 

 mentions "Rabbits, mice, small birds, Bob Whites and ducks," and 

 says : "I saw one of the birds strike a hen, while in defense of her 

 brood, with a force that killed her, and then grasp in its claws a half- 

 grown chicken and triumphantly carry it away." 



A. K. Fisher in summing up the report on 133 stomachs of the 

 Cooper's Hawk taken in various parts of the United States says : 

 "Thirty-four contained poultry or game birds; 52, other birds; 11, 

 mammals; 1, frog; 3, lizards; 2, insects; and 39 were empty." 



B. H. Warren, in Pennsylvania, examined 34 stomachs of this 

 hawk and found that 16 contained chickens; 10 small birds (spar- 



