179 



HANDLE A WOUNDED HAWK CAREFULLY. 



This species when woiiuded, like all other rapacious 

 birds, will defend itself with its claws and bill against 

 all advances. A stick or gun barrel presented to it, 

 when crippled, will be grasped, and the bird can be 

 carried pendant from the same a considerable distance 

 before it will loose its hold. With such tenacity do 

 they hold on that a friend of mine who had winged 

 one, in his endeavors 1o capture it alive, had the bird 

 to fasten on his forearm with both claws; to relieve 

 himself he was obliged to take out his penknife and 

 sever Ihe tendons of both legs. 



WHEN RED-TAILS WERE ABUNDANT. 



Fifteen years ago birds of the genus Buteo, especi- 

 ally the Red-tailed and Red-shouldered species, and the 

 Rough-legged Hawk, likewise the handsome little Spar 

 row Hawk, were very numerous about the fields and 

 grassy meadow lands in most of the farming districts 

 of this State. The passage of the Scalp act of 1885 

 stimulated many persons to make a regular business 

 of slaughtering these hawks, as well as other animals, 

 and as a result thousands were killed during the ac- 

 .tive enforcement of the unwise law. In the winter of 

 1884 I took a drive along the Brandywine creek, and, 

 in a distance of two miles above Chadd's Ford, Dela- 

 ware county, saw five Rough-legged Hawks, nine Red 

 tailed, four Red-shouldered, and three Sparrow Hawks, 

 or twenly-one in all. Several times, in winter, since 

 1885, I have driven over the same route and at no 

 time have I seen more than two or three of these spe- 

 cies, and generally the birds that were observed on 

 these last trips were Sparrow Hawks. 



The meadows along the Brandywine, in the locality 



