220 BIRD-LAND ECHOES. 



very near our houses, particularly when we are pes- 

 tered with English sparrows nesting at every possible 

 coigne of vantage. So far as the sparrows are con- 

 cerned, we welcome these hawks ; but they are not 

 always sufficiently discriminating, and I once saw 

 one strike at a caged canary that had been placed 

 at an open window. The fright killed the canary, 

 and the hawk was seriously injured by violent con- 

 tact with the wires of the cage, which were much 

 bent. Does this and like incidents indicate defec- 

 tive vision ? It is not unusual for this bird to dash 

 with all its speed at tree-sparrows at the moment of 

 their disappearance in a dense greenbrier thicket 

 impenetrable to the hawk, and after such a rash 

 endeavor the bird is often feather-torn to a degree 

 that renders it almost helpless. Ordinarily we are 

 apt to look upon the smaller birds of prey as perfect 

 in mechanism and possessing excellent judgment, 

 but close observation discloses the fact that there are 

 limitations in the latter respect, and that failure is not 

 an unknown quantity in their lives. 



Cooper's hawk is nearly related to the preceding, 

 but is a little larger. Its habits are said to be the 

 same, but I have not found them so. It is about all 

 summer, and also in April and May ; during these 

 months, however, it keeps out. of sight, though near 

 enough to the farmer's house to be posted as to the 

 chicken-coops. It will hide within twenty yards of 

 the kitchen door, in a cedar, and take a chicken at a 

 certain hour day after day, until discovered by mere 

 accident. The dash of the hawk, the commotion 



