188 



LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



in search of food, but skulk around in thick trees and bushes and pounce 

 on their prey when least expected. When they seize a bird or mammal, no 

 matter how small it may be, they always fl) at once to the ground with it. 

 When they wish to carry their prey to any distance, they do it by short 

 Hi^hts just above the ground. They have a peculiar habit of stretching out 

 their legs as far as they can, as soon as they seize their quarry, as if they 

 were afraid of what they had caught. Their food, according to my observa- 

 tion, consists principally of mice and other small mammals, as well as of 

 small birds, but in this region they kill very few of the latter. 



"The only call note I have ever heard the Sharp-shinned Hawk utter 

 sounds very much like the "cac, cac, cac" of the Flicker, and is exactly like 

 that of the Cooper's Hawk, excepting perhaps, that it .sounds a little shriller 

 and not quite so loud. These birds resort to the woods, thick with ever- 

 green trees, during the breeding season, but at other times they are often 

 seen in the open, especially in swampy places, where they prey on mice 

 and moles, usually common in such situations. I have often seen them in 

 Florida during the winter, but have never found them breeding there. 

 Southern people call this Hawk the 'The Little Blue Darter,' and Cooper's 

 Hawk the 'Big Blue Darter.' 



"The nests of the Sharp-shinned Hawk are usually very large for the size 

 of the bird, so much so that it is impossible by looking from the ground to tell 

 whether one is occupied or not. They measure sometimes from 25 to 30 inches 

 in diameter and from 4 to 6 inches in depth on the outside, and from 10 to 12 

 inches in diameter by from 2 to 4 inches on the inside. They are placed 

 in evergreen trees, usually against the trunk, on branches growing out from it. 

 I have never found one in any other situation. The nest is generally made of 

 large twigs and lined with small ones, but sometimes a few pieces of hemlock 

 bark, or a few strips of the inner bark, or a little of both, are added to the lining. 

 They are situated from 25 to 50 feet above the ground, usually about 40 feet. 

 The nests are evidently made by the birds themselves, as I know of no other 

 species that builds exactly like them. 



" In this locality Sharp-shinned Hawks commence laying about the middle 

 of May, and fresh eggs can be found from that time until the 1st of June. The 

 male may assist in incubation, but I think not, for I have found a number of 

 their nests and some of them I visited several times, but every time that I could 

 make sure of the sex of the bird it proved to be the female. I have, however, 

 seen the male bring food to its mate while she was incubating. 



" I have never known of but one instance here in the North of a nest 

 belonging to birds of prey being defended by its owners, and this was a nest 

 owned by a pair of this species, that was found (hiring the present season, IS! 10. 

 Usually, when a nest of these birds is disturbed, the female will ny around 

 among the trees some distance away and utter her Flicker-like cries, while the 

 male will keep out of sight altogether. This nest was found on ^lav !>, and 

 even then the female was quite angry and struck at the climber several times, 



