THE RED-SHOULDERED HAWK. 



You have heard of me before. 

 I am the Hawk whose cry Mr. 

 Blue Jay imitated, as you will 

 remember, in the story ''The 

 Xew Tenants," published in 

 Birds. 



Kee-oe^ kee-oe, kee-oe, that is my 

 cry, very loud and plaintive ; 

 they say I am a very noisy bird ; 

 perhaps that is the reason why 

 Mr. Blue Jay imitates me more 

 than he does other Hawks. 



I am called Chicken Hawk, 

 and Hen Hawk, also, though I 

 don't deserve either of those 

 names. There are members of 

 our family, and oh, what a lot of 

 us there are — as numerous as 

 the Woodpeckers — who do drop 

 down into the barnyards and 

 right before the farmer's eyes 

 carry off a Chicken. Red 

 Squirrels, to my notion, are more 

 appetizing than Chickens; so are 

 Mice, Frogs, Centipedes, Snakes, 

 and Worms. A bird once in a 

 while I like for variety, and be- 

 tween you and me, if I am hun- 

 gry, I pick up a chicken now 

 and then, that has strayed out- 

 side the barnyard. But only 

 occasionally^ remember, so that I 

 don't deserve the name of 

 Chicken Hawk at all, do I? 



Wooded swamps, groves 

 inhabited by Squirrels, and 

 patches of low timber are the 

 places in which we make oui' 



homes. Sometimes we use an 

 old crow's nest instead of build- 

 ing one; we retouch it a little 

 and put in a soft lining of 

 feathers which my mate plucks 

 from her breast. When we 

 build a new nest, it is made of 

 husks, moss, and strips of bark, 

 lined as the building progresses 

 with my mate's feathers. Young 

 lady Red-shouldered Hawks lay 

 three and sometimes four eggs, 

 but the old lady birds lay only 

 two. 



Somehow Mr. Blue Jay never 

 sees a Hawk without giving the 

 alarm, and on he rushes to at- 

 tack us, backed up by other Jays 

 who never fail to go to his 

 assistance. They often assem- 

 ble in great numbers and act- 

 ually succeed in driving us out 

 of the neighborhood. Not that 

 we are afraid of them, oh no! 

 We know them to be great 

 cowards, as well as the crows, 

 who harass us also, and only 

 have to turn on our foes to put 

 them to rout. Sometimes we do 

 turn, and seizing a Blue Jay, 

 sail off with him to the nearest 

 covert ; or in mid air strike a 

 Crow who persistently follows 

 us. But as a general thing we 

 simply ignore our little assail- 

 ants, and just fly off to avoid 

 them. 



96 



