HAWKS OF THE CANADIAN PRAIRIE PROVINCES. 3 



very different. It usually flies low, beating, with regularly measured, 

 leisurely strokes, up and down over waste land and low scrub, rising 

 with even sweep to surmount a wooded fence line or copse, and plunging 

 rapidly down again to surprise unsuspecting prey on the other side. 

 The young bird of the year is practically reddish brown all over and the 

 adult female is similar but lighter below with the red less intense. The 

 adult male is nearly pure white below and pearl grey above, with black 

 wing tips. In any plumage the Marsh Hawk can be recognized by its 

 white rump which stands out conspicuously and forms a good field 

 recognition mark, especially in juvenile red plumages. 



ACCIPITERS. 



The Accipiters are represented by three species. They vary in 

 size from the Sharp-shinned, the smallest of our hawks, with body hardly 

 larger than that of a robin, to the Goshawk, one of the largest and most 

 powerful of the hawks. Normally they are woodland hunters and glide 

 through the open bush, threading its mazes with speed and certainty and 

 taking their prey by hidden approach and sudden surprise. For this 

 purpose, which demands sudden bursts of speed and powerful manoeuvr- 

 ing control, they have short rounded wings and long tails, giving an 

 outline that taken with flight habits is quite characteristic. They fly 

 with several quick wing beats and then a short sail and are seldom 

 seen beating about the open, soaring in the air, or, except in migration, 

 far from the vicinity of timbered areas. In spirit they are bold and 

 aggressive and their depredations are serious. The two smaller species, 

 the Sharp-shinned and Cooper's Hawks, subsist almost entirely on small 

 birds, paying little if any attention to mice or rodents. The Goshawk 

 takes larger birds and the larger rodents and other such mammals. These 

 birds have done most to give the other raptores a bad name among 

 poultry raisers and game conservators. The Sharp-shinned is limited by 

 size to small birds and is only indirectly important, but the Goshawk is 

 a confirmed chicken and grouse thief. Its strength, weight, and agility 

 are sufficient to enable it to handle even well grown birds and it has the 

 spirit and fearlessness to use its powers to trie full. A Goshawk often 

 makes a daily practice of approaching a particular chicken yard in the 

 shelter of a barn, house, or tree clump and bearing off its prey before the 

 surprised owner can interfere. The Cooper's Hawk, being smaller, 

 cannot do as much harm, but the difference is one of degree only and little 

 can be said in its favour. 



The Goshawk is of special interest to the game conservator. Its 

 normal range is along the northern limit of intense cultivation and its 

 usual food is the rabbit or varying hare of the bush land. It is a well 



