122 



BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



the Sharp-shinned Hawk to pay occasional visits to towns and villages 

 where he should be heartily welcomed for the destruction he causes 

 among these feathered pests. 



The food of nineteen of these hawks which I have examined is given 

 in the following table : 



Accipiter cooperi (BONAP.). 



Cooper's Hawk. 



DESCRIPTION (Plate 67). 



Length 18 to 20 inches ; extent about 36 ; tail about 8g ; male smaller. Immature 

 birds have upper parts brownish, more or less spotted with white and reddish brown, 

 tail barred and lower parts white with long brown spots. 



Habitat. North America in general, south to southern Mexico. 



This much detested and commonly called " Long-tailed Chicken or 

 Pheasant Hawk," is a common native ; it is resident, but is not near so 

 plentiful during the winter months as throughout the late spring, sum. 

 mer and early autumn. 



For impudent daring this species, without doubt, ranks preeminent 

 among the raptorial genera. Almost every farmer or poultry raiser can 

 reiterate instances of where he or she was the victim of pillage by this 

 bold and audacious marauder. In the spring of 1878 a friend presented 

 me with a Cooper's Hawk which he had caught in a steel trap, but not 

 until he and his mate had destroyed some fifty young chickens. Dur- 

 ing one day they killed twelve. " This marauder sometimes attacks 

 birds far superior to itself in weight, and sometimes possessed of a cour- 

 age and strength equal to its own. As I was one morning observing 

 the motions of some Parakeets, near Bayou Sara, in Louisiana, in the 

 month of November, I heard a cock crowing not far from me and in 

 sight of a farm house. The hawk next moment flew past me, and so 

 close that I might have touched it with the barrel of rny gun had I been 

 prepared. Not more than a few seconds elapsed before I heard the cack- 

 ling of the hens and the war cry of the cock, and at the same time ob- 



