78 C. If. Merriani — Birds of (Jomtecticut. 



157. Accipiter fllSCUS (Gmeliu) Bouaparte. Sharp-shinned Hawk. 



A common summei" resident, breeding- on trees and on higli rocky- 

 cliffs thronghout the State. Mr. W. W. Coe writes nie, that, of all 

 our Hawks, they are the latest to breed, laying their eggs, generally 

 live ill number, in June. He has found tliem "in an old grey squir- 

 rel's nest fixed up for the occasion." Arrives in March, remaining 

 into November. F. W. Putnam, in 1S56, gave it as " resident," but 

 " not abundant," in Essex County, Mass. I have no authentic 

 record of its occurrence here in winter. Dr. Wood writes : " Its 

 flight is quick, irregular, and so rapid, that, if your gun is not cocked 

 it will pass out of range before you can get aim. It pounces upou 

 its prey with such velocity that no time is allowed for escape. 

 While riding one day, one passed within a few feet of me and dashed 

 into a cluster of alders, interwoven with grapevines and briars, and 

 seized a half-grown quail, passing out with it, without scarcely check- 

 ing its speed. Although the hedge was within twenty feet of me, it 

 was so thick tliat I could not discern tlie bird until it a])peared on the 

 opposite side in the talons of the Hawk. When hungry and in 

 search of game, it knows no fear, often diving within a few feet of 

 \o\\ and seizing a chicken. Sometimes you will see one flying along- 

 very swift and low, wheeling right and left, taking a ' bird's-eye view' 

 of every hedge and bush, until it starts some little bird, wliose fate is 

 surely sealed."* Nuttall writes: " Descending furiously and blindly 

 upon its quarry, a young Hawk of this species broke through the glass 

 of the green-house, at the Cambridge Botanic Garden ; and fearlessly 

 passing through a second glass partition, he was only brought \\\^ by 

 the third, and caught, though little stunned by the effort. "f 



158. Accipiter Cooperi (Bonaparte) (iray. ('ooper's Hawk; Chicken 



Hawk. 



A common summer resident, geneially ])lacing its nest in some tall 

 i)ine or oilier high tree. "Their four eggs are usually ileposited 

 about the middle of May. They l're((uently build a new nest every 

 vear but often take possession of the old nest of a Ived-tailed or IJed- 

 shouldered Hawk. "J Arrives in ]\Iai"ch, remaining into Novembei'. 

 Dr. Wood writes that he knew of six of their nests in the vicinity of 

 East Windsor Hill, Conn., in a single season, and that he obtained 



* Hartford Times, chap, x, May 25th, 1861. 



■)• Nuttall's Manual of Ornithology, vol. i, p. 88. 1832. 



X MS. notes of W. W. Coe. 



