BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 181 
considerably heavier than himself, and the tragedy transpired 
too near me to leave adoubt as to the identity of the assassin. 
His prowess has no equal amongst Raptorial birds, attacking 
without an instant’s hesitation, birds and animals far exceeding 
its own weight.* I have seen them do the things whereof I 
make these statements. Wilson’s account of its encounter 
with a squirrel, and the outcome, was by no means a solitary 
instance, for it has been witnessed on occasions since he des- 
cribed it. I shot one within half a mile of the beautiful Falls 
of Minnehaha onthe 14th of September, 1869, that had the 
denuded head of a large squirrel hanging firmly to one side of 
its neck by the incisors, one eye destroyed, and a large hole 
torn out of the hawk’s maw, of sufficient size to reveal its con- 
tents of small birds partially digested, protruding. It must 
have been an encounter of some weeks, or months, previous, 
for the squirrel’s skull had become perfectly bleached and pol- 
ished, while the opening into the maw,bore no signs of recent 
inflammation. Mr. Washburn found it common in the Red River 
valley, and along Thief river in August, while others report it 
everywhere in migration. eer | 
SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
Small tail rather long; legs and toes slender; entire upper 
parts brownish-black, tinged with ashy; occiput mixed with 
white; throat and under tail coverts white, the former with 
lines of black on the shafts of the feathers; other under parts 
fine light rufous, deepest on the tibia, with transverse bands 
of white; shafts of feathers with lines of dark brown; tail ashy- 
brown tipped with white, and with about four bands of brown- 
ish-black; quills brownish-black, with bands of a darker shade, 
and of white on their inner webs; secondaries and tertiaries 
with large, partially concealed spots of white. 
Length (of female), 12 to 14; wing, 7.50 to 8; tail, 6.50 to 7. 
Habitat, North America. 
AUCIPITER COOPERI (BONAPARTE.) (8338.) 
COOPER'S HAWK. 
This is a very common species here, and is fairly distributed 
over the openly timbered sections of the State. I have uni- 
formly observed them early in April, and if any instance has 
occurred of an arrival in March I have not been apprised of it. 
*T once saw one of these hawks dash into a flock of wild pigeons, and strike a very 
large, old bird, fifty per cent heavier thanitself. It was done when the assailant was 
mCving with its highest velocity. and with such deadly certainty that the stroke in- 
stantly killed the pigeon, for the head and wings all dropped, and I as speedily dropped 
the hawk, pigeon and all, by a well-directed shot. Incredible though it seems to me 
now, the keen, long, curved talons had pierced to its vitals. 
