364 RED-TAILED HAWK. 



fowls, and which seldom failed to answer the purpose. 

 He would only resort to this plan after having discovered 

 a Hawk visit the same tree two or three times succes- 

 sively. 



During protracted cold weather and deep snows, the 

 ordinary supplies of food are no longer to be obtained by 

 Hawks, and like other shy and vigilant birds, their ferocity 

 and energies become in a measure subdued, by the seve- 

 rities of the winter. The past winter was one of unusual 

 coldness, and these, as well as other birds, suffered much 

 from its inclemencies. I have heard that a Red-tailed 

 Hawk was seen on the public highway, scratching and 

 gleaning a scanty meal from among the droppings of the 

 horses s and on the approach of a sleigh with bells, merely 

 avoided it by fl} r ing on the fence by the road-side, not 

 more than twenty feet from the passengers, and resumed 

 its former occupation so soon as the sleigh had passed. 



The young of the Red-tailed Hawk are very noisy when 

 confined to their nests, keeping up an incessant clamor. 

 They are protected and fed by both parents, until they 

 have attained an age sufficient to shift for themselves, 

 when not only they are forsaken by the parents, but a 

 complete separation of each member of the family takes 

 place, and each becomes selfish and shy towards the other, 

 as though there never existed affinity between them. 



The Red-tailed Hawk commences building its nest in 

 February, generally on some tall tree, in an unfrequented 

 wood, which consists of sticks and coarse grass. I do not 

 recollect of ever having seen but two : one was on the 

 northern range of hills which bounds the great valley of 

 Chester county, and the other, in an extensive pine wood, 

 in Jersey. The eggs are commonly four or five in num- 

 ber, of a dirty white, and spotted with a dark brown color ; 

 and the following description, by Wilson, so perfectly 

 agrees with the specimen from which our drawing is made, 

 that I have inserted it at length. 



