56 OUR BACKDOOR NEIGHBORS 



were eating. The Red-tail family seldom 

 failed to leave a partly eaten carcass, or at least 

 feet and tails at hand, to show on what they 

 had dined, but the Cooper Hawk family were 

 skilled in removing every trace of incrimina- 

 ting evidence. Seldom did even a feather re- 

 main, and never the usual fragments of legs 

 and other appendages. 



GETTING AT THE MENU 



After trying for several days to see the 

 mother bird in the act of feeding her young, 

 or to find some trace of partly eaten food 

 which would give reliable information con- 

 cerning their habits, he decided that there was 

 but one way to get results to visit the nest 

 frequently, and whenever they had recently 

 been fed to compel them to disgorge their 

 dinners in the interest of science. This proved 

 to be a disagreeable task, but it was followed 

 faithfully for many days. While rather un- 

 pleasant business, it had the great advantage 

 of making an accurate determination possible 

 in many cases. At times the mutilation was so 

 great that the species could not be easily deter- 

 mined with certainty in the case of small birds. 



It soon became apparent where Tommy 



