BIRDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
119 
their parents, but for what length of time, we are unable to say. Like 
the latter, their appetites are very fastidious, tainted and unsavory food 
being rejected with disgust. When the young have vacated the nest, 
Audubon asserts that the parents are known to imitate their feeble cries, 
as they travel together in pursuit of game. Ordinarily, the cry of the 
adult birds is a peculiar series of notes, which are pronounced in a very 
shrill manner, and most difficult of imitation. It is said to resemble the 
call of the Euroj^ean Kestrel, and would doubtless be mistaken for it, were 
it not for its more powerful intonation. 
When taken from the nest, these Hawks are readily domesticated, and 
make very interesting j)ets. Audubon once reared a young bird, which he 
kept about the house. At nights it would roost upon a favorite window- 
shutter. In the daytime it would wander about the fields, where it was 
often assailed by its wilder kindred. On these occasions, instead of making 
a stand and resenting such uncivilized conduct, it would invariably heat a 
j)recipitate flight to the house where it was sure of finding protection. At 
length this poor bird was killed by an enraged hen, one of whose chicks 
it was essaying to capture. While in Columbia, South Carolina, Dr. 
Coues saw three of these birds in the possession of a neighbor. They 
had been taken while quite young, and were perfectly reconciled to 
their imprisonment. During early life they ate all kinds of meat, but as 
they approached the age of maturity, they began to display much of their 
natural disposition. When disturbed they would show their disj^leasure by 
snapping the bill, and clutching at the offending cane with their talons. 
Among the number there was a cripple who was most dreadfully misused 
and bullied by his companions. One night, being insufficiently fed or 
unasually irritable, they set upon the ] 30 or fellow, killed him, and had 
nearly made way with him by the returning morn. 
The eggs of this species vary in number from four to seven, comple- 
ments of fives and sixes being oftener found than any other. In one case 
a set of three was found by a friend of the writer’s, but this was i?robahly 
excejotional in its character. The ground-color is never fixed, hut passes 
