54 



THE OOLOGIST 



The Sharp-Shinned Hawk. 



This little rascal is found here, 

 Warren, Pa., at all times of the year 

 but is most common during the mi- 

 grations. 



During the migrations it is general- 

 ly met with about clearings and farm- 

 ing districts, but when settled for the 

 summer it chooses well-timbered re- 

 gions in the mountains where second- 

 growth hemlock abounds. 



It is bold and daring and frequent- 

 ly raids the farmers' poultry yard. 



During cold weather I have often 

 seen it chasing sparrows about the 

 main streets in town. Once while 

 watching one flying low across a field, 

 a Mourning Dove jumped up to one 

 side of the hawk. The hawk instant- 

 ly turned and grappled when both fell 

 to the ground. I approached very close 

 before the hawk would release its 

 hold. On being released the dove 

 rapidly disappeared, apparently not 

 much hurt. 



On another occasion while hunting 

 ducks along the river I saw a sharp- 

 shin flying along. As it was passing 

 a large sycamore it suddenly wheeled 

 and dashing into the tree it picked a 

 red squirrel off a limb and flew heavily 

 away with its struggling victim, hold- 

 ing it down as far away from its body 

 as possible. 



Once while sitting quietly and very 

 much interested in watching a lot of 

 warblers in a large thorn tree, I was 

 startled by a rush from behind right 

 past my head as a sharp-shin dashed 

 into the tree. The startled birds 

 flushed in all directions and sharpy 

 grabbed one and kept right on going. 

 About that time I took a hand, and 

 sharpy ran into a charge of shot. The 

 victim though got loose and flew away 

 before I could see what it was. 



Still another time I heard a great 

 racket from a Pileated Woodpecker. 

 Hurrying that way, I found a sharp- 



shin making a desperate attempt to- 

 get his claws into the log-cock's anato- 

 my. The big woodpecker was on the 

 trunk of a large tree and its only hope 

 seemed to be to keep the trunk be- 

 tween itself and its enemy. Every 

 time the hawk rushed, the woodpecker 

 would shisk around the tree. All the 

 time, the Pileated made the woods 

 ring with its distressed cries. 



Just how this would have ended is 

 hard to say, but it happened that 

 this Pileated and its mate were resi- 

 dent in that locality and old acquaint- 

 ances of mine. I found it a convenient 

 place to go to watch them and didn't 

 wish to see harm befall them as the 

 Pileated is becoming rare fast enough. 

 So I slipped up quietly and knocked 

 out Mr. Hawk for fear he might re- 

 turn 



I have found a few nests of this 

 hawk and believe that in each case 

 an old crow's nest was fixed up and 

 used. Several nests were exceedingly 

 flat and flimsy, and half fallen out of 

 the tree, and looked to be old crows' 

 nests several seasons old. 



All that I have found were in the 

 tops of second-growth hemlock and 

 generally well hidden from sight. In 

 height they ranged from twenty to 

 fifty feet. The number of eggs is usu- 

 ally five, sometimes only four. A 

 friend of mine found a nest containing 

 six eggs. This nest, by the way, was 

 in a beech tree and is the only one 

 that I know of that was not in a hem- 

 lock. May 20-30 is the time to find 

 fresh eggs here. 



They will nest twice if molested the 

 first time as I know from experience 

 ^ith a pair whose first set of five I 

 took late in May. This pair moved 

 about half mile farther on and laid a 

 second set of four by the middle of 

 June. Most of the nests I have found 

 I have discovered by the actions of 

 the male. 



