36 BIRDS OF PREY. 



upon its prey with great velocity in a sort of zig-zag pounce, 

 after the manner of the Goshawk. Descending furiously and 

 blindly upon its quarry, a young Hawk of this species broke 

 through the glass of the greenhouse at the Cambridge Botanic 

 Garden, and fearlessly passing through a second glass parti- 

 tion, he was only brought up by the third, and caught, though 

 little stunned by the effort. His wing-feathers were much torn 

 by the glass, and his flight in this way so impeded as to allow 

 of his being approached. This species feeds principally upon 

 mice, Hzards, small birds, and sometimes even squirrels. In 

 the thinly settled States of Georgia and Alabama this Hawk 

 seems to abound, and proves extremely destructive to young 

 chickens, a single bird having been known regularly to come 

 every day until he had carried away between twenty and thirty. 

 At noon-day, while I was conversing with a planter, one of these 

 Hawks came down, and without any ceremony, or heeding the 

 loud cries of the housewife, who most reluctantly witnessed the 

 robbery, snatched away a chicken directly before us. At an- 

 other time, near Tuscaloosa, in Alabama, I observed a pair of 

 these birds furiously attack the large Red-tailed Hawk, squall- 

 ing very loudly, and striking him on the head until they had 

 entirely chased him out of sight. This enmity appeared to 

 arise from a suspicion that the Buzzard was prowling round 

 the farm-house for the poultry, which these Hawks seemed to 

 claim as their exclusive perquisite. As this was, however, the 

 13th of February, these insulting marauders might possibly be 

 already preparing to breed, and thus be incited to drive away 

 every suspicious intruder approaching their nest. In fine 

 weather I have observed this species soar to a great elevation, 

 and ascend above the clouds. In this exercise, as usual, the 

 wings seem but little exercised, the ascent being made in a 

 sort of swimming gyration ; though while near the surface of 

 the earth the motion of the wings in this bird is rapid and 

 continuous. 



The Sharp-shinned is the commonest Hawk throughout New 

 England and the settled portions of Canada, and breeds southward 

 to the Southern States. In winter it ranges south to Panama. 



