METHODS OF BIRD STUDY 45 



When depredations 011 the poultry yard or disturbance 

 among small birds is marked, it is all but certain that either a 

 sharp-shinned or a Cooper's hawk is causing all the mischief. 

 These two, of the commoner hawks, feed almost exclusively 

 on other birds and bring practically all the popular ill-repute 

 upon the rest of the family. In addition to these, the Amer- 

 ican goshawk, a Canadian species which enters the Northern 

 States in winter, feeds largely on game and poultry ; and the 

 rarer duck hawk, seldom seen far from the coast or larger 

 waterways, feeds chiefly on waterfowl. 



Some authorities are inclined to maintain that the smaller 

 species, sparrow and pigeon hawks, may prove useful in towns 

 and cities in destroying English sparrows. This is a good 

 problem to assign, if some of these birds are known to nest 

 in the neighborhood. In the only case known to the author a 

 pair of sparrow hawks which nested on one of the buildings 

 of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute had finally to be shot 

 on account of serious inroads upon the valuable bird life of 

 the campus. Common types are : 



Marsh hawk Ctrcns hudsonias. 



Sharp-shinned hawk Accipiter t'c'fo.r. 



Cooper's hawk Accipiter cooper i. 



American goshawk Astur <ifric<i/'/ln. 



Red-tailed hawk Buteo boredlis. 



Red-shouldered hawk Buteo linedtus. 



Bald eagle Haliceetus leucocephalus. 



Duck hawk Fdlco pereyrinus dnatiun. 



Pigeon hawk Fdlco columbarium. 



Sparrow hawk Fdlco sparveriu*. 



American osprev, or fish hawk P and ion halkeetus carolinensis. 



Screech owl Otus dsio. 



Great horned owl Bubo virginidnus. 



Order Coccyges (coccyx, "a cuckoo"). These are among our 

 most valuable birds as destroyers of hairy caterpillars, and on 



