222 Tur Witson BULLETIN—NOs. 76-77. 
nine months old, though chattering excitedly whenever I came 
near. A young Screech Owl was an inmate of the flying cage 
for several hours without being molested. The species pen- 
chant for snakes was again shown in the actions of Tuck when 
a house adder was admitted. He ran along the entire length 
of the shelf in a curious springing gait, with extended neck; 
the reptile was immediately seized and the head torn off, al- 
thought the bird had! just been fed. Each bird had its favor- 
ite perch and feeding place Tuck was found dead Sept. 27, 
1908. His body was unusually large for a male’s and layers 
of fat were found under the skin and about the intestines. 
Nip lived through three spring and summer moults and would 
probably have survived a long time but for my inability to 
provide a sufficiently varied fare. Lack of change from beef 
lights without doubt contributed to the development of faint- 
ing fits upon the least excitement. She would fall upon her 
back with half-spread wings, flutter desperately for a short 
time and then lie motionless and stiff until | feared it was 
death. or about four months she was subject to this land 
finally I found her dead beside the body of a hen I had given 
her the day before from which she had been unable to tear a 
single morsel, September 19, 1910. This hawk was peculiarly 
fond of live catfish 
Miaration. 
VERNAL—The more or less abundant migratory species of 
the Hawk tribe in North America (especially the Accipiters 
and Buteos) representing considerable areas of the more north- 
ern breeding grounds, apparently migrate in convergent lines 
and fairly consistent routes. These routes are as natural and 
as prone to error as the highways and bypaths of man. To all 
appearances, they simply follow the paths of least resistance 
‘as though not endowed with wings, following the coast line, 
river valleys, coursing around high elevations and large bodies 
of water, or crossing at the narrowest point. The flights are 
not so often what might be termed flocks, but rather a steady 
increasingly abundant stream of independent units at a height 
