Kites, Hawks, Eagles, etc. 



patch of woods, a dead limb near water, or above low open fields 

 or swamps, and there, intent and eager, it will wait hours and 

 hours for its quarry to come within range. Then, like feathered 

 lightning, down it flashes and strikes its prey. One never sees 

 this hawk dashing through the air in pursuit of a victim, as the 

 sharp-shinned, Cooper's hawk and the goshawk do. It may 

 sometimes pounce upon a bird a-wing, but humbler quarry gen- 

 erally takes it to earth. Of the five hundred and sixty-two 

 stomachs of red-tailed hawks examined by Mr. Fisher for the 

 Department of Agriculture, one-half contained mice, about one- 

 third other mammals, fifty-four contained poultry or game birds ; 

 and batrachians or reptiles, insects, etc., filled part of the re- 

 mainder, eighty-nine being empty. Captain Bendire, in his 

 valuable book prepared for the Government, says : "Unfortu- 

 nately the red-tailed hawk has a far worse reputation with the 

 average farmer than it really deserves ; granting that it dees cap- 

 ture a chicken or one of the smaller game birds now and then 

 and this seems to be the case only in winter, when such food as 

 they usually subsist on is scarce it can be readily proved that it 

 is far more beneficial than otherwise, and really deserves protec- 

 tion, instead of having a bounty placed on its head, as has been 

 the case in several states." 



Around the nest especially, though one sometimes hears its 

 squealing whistle, like "escaping steam," as it floats overhead, 

 at any season, the red-tail becomes more noisy, but its voice is 

 rather weak, considering the size of the bird. About eighty per 

 cent, of all nests found have been in birch trees, and placed from 

 sixty to seventy feet from the ground. A large bundle of sticks, 

 lined with strips of bark, twigs, and feathers from the birds 

 themselves, is placed usually where some large limb branches 

 off from the trunk; and so dear does this rude cradle become to 

 the mates that jointly prepare it, it will be used year after year 

 if the hawks are unmolested. From two to four dull white 

 eggs, with rough, granulated shells, often scantily and irregularly 

 marked with shades of cinnamon, take about four weeks of close 

 incubation, in which both the devoted lovers and parents assist. 

 It is believed these birds, like most of their kin, remain mated 

 for life. The helpless, downy young remain in the nest until 

 fully able to fly. Hawks usually bolt their food, and around a 

 nest are abundant traces of the hearty appetite of a voung family, 



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