192 LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



66. Accipiter cooperi (BONAPARTE). 



COOPER'S HAWK. 



Falco t'onptri BONAPARTE, American Ornithology, n, 1828, 1, PI. x, Fig. 1. 

 Accipiter cooperi GRAY, List of Birds in British Museum, Accipitres, 1844, 38. 



(B 15, 16, C 339, R 431, C 495, U 333.) 



GEOGRAPHICAL RANGE : Whole of temperate North America, including the greater 

 part of Mexico. 



With the exception of Alaska, the breeding range of the Cooper's Hawk 

 is coextensive with the limits of the United States. It is known to breed 

 from Maine to Florida, from Louisiana and Texas throughout the inte- 

 rior, and on the Pacific coast from northern Lower California (Cape Col- 

 nett, latitude 31), to our northern border. It is also met with along the 

 southern portions of the Dominion of Canada, from Newfoundland and 

 New Brunswick westward to Manitoba, where it is reported as tolerably 

 common in the vicinity of Winnipeg, up to latitude 50, and stragglers 

 probably reach points still farther north, as Dr. T. M. Brewer reported it from 

 the Saskatchewan. It also occurs in British Columbia, both on the coast 

 and in the interior, and undoubtedly breeds there as well. In the more north- 

 ern portions of its range it is only a .summer resident, wintering from about 

 latitude 39, southward, and passing into Mexico. It breeds most commonly 

 in the Middle and Northern States, becoming rarer as the extreme limits of 

 its northern and southern range are reached. 



Cooper's Hawk must be considered as one of the few really injurious 

 Raptores found within our limits, and ;ts it is fairly common at all seasons 

 throughout the greater part of the United States, it does, in the aggregate, 

 far more harm than all other Hawks. It is well known to be the most 

 audacious robber the farmer has to contend with in the protection of his 

 poultry, and is the equal in every way, both in spirit and dash, as well as 

 in bloodthirstiness, of its larger relative, the Goshawk, lacking, however, the 

 strength of the latter, owing to its much smaller size. It is by far the worst 

 enemy of all the smaller game birds, living to a great extent on them as well 

 as on small birds generally. 



It does not appear to be especially fond of the smaller rodents; these, 

 as well as reptiles, batrachians, and insects seem to enter only to a limited 

 extent into its daily bill of fare, and unfortunately it is only too often the 

 case that many of our harmless and really beneficial Hawks have to suffer 

 for the depredations committed by these daring thieves. 



The flight of Cooper's Hawk is both easy and graceful, and ordinarily 

 not especially swift. He may most often be seen skimming along close to 

 the ground, in rather a desultory manner, usually skirting the edges of open 

 woods or clearings; but once in sight and in active pursuit of its selected 

 prey it darts in and out through the densest thickets with amazing swift- 



