OF EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA. *V, 



They can he domesticated, and become quite interesting 

 pets. Audubon once reared a bird from the nest, and kept 

 it about the house. When assailed by its wilder kindred, 

 it would flee to the house for protection : and, at nights, 

 would invariably roost upon a favorite window-shutter. 

 After keeping it for some time, it was eventually killed by 

 an enraged hen, one of whose offspring it had essayed to 

 capture. Dr. Cones, while in Columbia, South Carolina, 

 saw three of these birds in possession of a neighbor. They 

 had been removed from the nest when verv young, and had 

 become somewhat reconciled to their imprisonment. They 

 ate all kinds of meat, and when they had attained maturity, 

 displayed much of their natural disposition. When dis- 

 turbed, they would resent the insult by snapping the bill, 

 and clutching at the offending cane with their talons. There 

 was a cripple among the number who was most dreadfully 

 bullied by his comrades. Having been insufficiently fed 

 or unusually irritable, they set upon him on a certain night, 

 killed him, and had nearly made way with him by the 

 ensuing morning. 



These Hawks do not winter with us. They usually 

 retire farther south about the last of November, or the be- 

 ginning of December ; doubtless following our smaller spe- 

 cies of Sparrows and Finches, upon which they largely 

 subsist. 



The eggs of this species are nearly spherical, and are of a 

 pale yellowish-brown color. They are marked with dark- 

 brown blotches, which are more numerous about the larger 

 extremity where they constitute a crown or wreath. Some 

 are minutely dotted with dark-brown spots upon a pale 

 brown background, while others are marked with brown 

 spots upon a white ground-color, and, others, again, are 

 whitish and unspotted. Their measurement is 1.32 by 1.13 

 inches. 



