' 
456 AVES—HAWK. 
one of these hawks dart down on the ground, and seize a mouse, which he 
carried to a fence post; where, after examining it for some time, he left it; 
and a little while after pounced upon another mouse, which he instantly 
carried off to his nest in the hollow of a tree hard by. The gentleman, 
anxious to know why the hawk had rejected the first mouse, went up to it, 
and found it to be almost covered with lice, and greatly emaciated! Here 
was not only delicacy of taste, but sound’ and prudent reasoning. —“If I 
carry this to my nest,” thought he, “ it will fill it with vermin; and hardly 
be worth eating.” 
Many writers have spoken of this bird as inhabiting the West India istands, 
and especially Hispaniola, whence the species has been commonly known 
by the name of Saint Domingo hawks. Cayenne is given as its habitat by 
Brisson and Buffon; Paraguay, by D’Azara; and ihe Straits of Magellan, by 
Captain King. In the United States it usually builds in a hollow tree, and 
generally at a considerable distance from the ground, but in the south it is 
said to be more sociable, and D’Azara asserts that it will even take up its 
abode in churches and other old buildings. It lays from two to four or five 
eggs; and the young when hatched are fed with small birds, grasshoppers, 
and mice, the usual food of the parent birds. 
The note of this bird is so exactly imitated by the blue jay, as to deceive 
even those acquainted with them both; and, whether through fear or fascina- 
tion, no sooner does he make his appearance in their neighborhood, than the 
jays swarm around him and commence insulting him with their imitative 
cries. In return for this, as might naturally be expected, they fall frequent 
victims to his appetite. 
THE BLACK. HAWK} 
Js a native of North America alone. It is a remarkably shy and wary bird, 
found most frequently along the marshy shores of large rivers; feeds on 
mice, frogs, and moles; sails much and sometimes at a great height; has 
been seen to kill a duck on the wing; sits by the side of the marshes on a 
stake for half an hour ata time, as if dozing; flies wits great ease, and 
occasionally with great swiftness, seldom flapping his wings; is most 
numerous with us in winter, and but rarely seen in summer ; is remarkable 
for the great size of its eye, length of its wings, and shortness of its toes 
The breadth of its head is likewise uncommon. We have no account of its 
place or manner of breeding. 
F’. niger, Witson. 
