78 THE BIRDS OF NEW JERSEY. 



slightly mottled with white; long wing feathers, barred 

 with dusky on the terminal portion, white at the base; 

 tail, grayish brown, with four dusky bands, below white, 

 transversely barred with rusty and all the feathers with 

 dusky shaft lines; flanks, rusty. The young bird is 

 brown above and white beneath, longitudinally streaked 

 with brown. It nests in April or May, in thick woods, 

 generally in evergreens or hickories, from twenty-five to 

 fifty feet from the ground; the nest is composed of sticks, 

 moss, leaves and grass. The eggs are from three to six 

 in number, two by one and a half inches in size, of a pale 

 bluish white, sometimes lightly spotted with red. 



It breeds and is distributed over the whole of temperate 

 North America. 



Cooper's Hawk is a very destructive bird, and the only 

 one of our Hawks which is not beneficial to the farmer. 

 All the others live mainly on mice and insects and but 

 rarely visit the poultry yard. Government examination 

 of 64 stomachs showed that 15 contained poultry or game 

 birds, 17 other birds, 1 mice, 1 frog, 1 lizard, 2 insects, 11 

 were empty. Government examination of 133 stomachs 

 showed that 34 contained poultry or game birds, 52 other 

 birds, 11 mammals, 1 frog, 3 lizards, 2 insects and 39 

 were empty. 



litnrk. Duck, or Falcon. Length, sixteen to twen- 

 ty inches; extent, three feet; above, sooty black; feathers 

 more or less edged with rusty; back of neck lighter, gen- 

 erally buff streaked with brown; wings, brownish black, 

 barred on the inner webs with buff or cinnamon; tail simi- 

 lar, with a whitish tip; under side of body dull white or 

 buff, longitudinally streaked with brown; old birds have 

 the fore breast nearly or quite devoid of streaks. 



It nests in hallow trees and on rocky cliffs. The eggs 

 are two inches by one and three-fourths inches in size, 

 of a dirty white to a light brown, with darker spots of 

 the same color, and either three or four in number. 



