THE OOLOGIST 



117 



Sparrow Hawk. 

 Florida Sparrow Hawk? 



While in Florida last winter I had 

 occasion to » pass the Palm Beach 

 County Court House many times. It 

 is a rather new building and I looked 

 it over carefully. In doing so I 

 naturally noted a pair of Sparrow 

 Hawks who seemed to literally haunt 

 it. I soon forgot the building and 

 watched the Hawks who were either 

 chasing each other or sitting on the 

 edge of the roof. Finally I saw the 

 reason for their remaining right in 

 the town. Some English Sparrows 

 were busy in the street, when down 

 pounced a Sparrow Hawk and got a 

 nice fat sparrow. The mate followed 

 closely and also got one. Then both 

 flew up on the roof of the Court House 

 to dine. I saw this repeated several 

 times, and usually each Hawk got a 

 sparrow until finally sparrows got to 

 be very rare in that neighborhood and 

 soon the hawks left, I suppose to nest 

 as well as to find food, but in two 

 weeks the sparrows were replaced by 

 others and if the Hawks ever returned 

 I did not see them. 



F. M. Carryl, 

 Maplewood, N. J. 



Florida Sparrow Hawks? — editor. 



Black Snake 



Rambling in the woods on a sum- 

 mer day, my eye caught sight of a 

 singular object, projecting in a loop, 

 from the side of a fifteen foot high, 

 dead, smooth elm snag, being what at 

 first I thought was an iron swing some 

 eight inches in diameter. Instead of 

 an iron swing the loop proved to be 

 so much the body of a large black 

 snake. In some way the snake had 

 managed to climb this bare pole, the 

 remains of a fallen tree and had en- 

 tered the hole where a pair of Yellow 

 Hummers were nesting. Its entire 

 body, except the loop being hidden in 



the cavity. Procuring a pole of suit- 

 able length, it was carefully inserted 

 in the loop, without disturbing the 

 nest robber, and with a vigorous out- 

 ward thrust of the same, an attempt 

 was made to bring the snake to the 

 ground. The attempt was a failure; 

 the rough, scaley body clinging close- 

 ly to the edges of the entrance of the 

 nest. But the occupant thus disturb- 

 ed, thrust forth his head, darted out 

 his tongue fiercely for a few times and 

 then disappeared in the cavity and 

 there remained. The pole was insert- 

 ed in the opening and his snakeship 

 was left a prisoner, for the purpose of 

 examination on a future visit. On a 

 later visit, this had been moved by 

 some meddler and other observations 

 were frustrated. Query? How did this 

 serpent manage to reach his perch? 

 The pole of the stump, some fifteen 

 feet high was barkless, almost per- 

 pendicular and perfectly smooth. It 

 was entirely too large for the body of 

 the snake to reach around and ascend 

 by an encircling motion. This species 

 of reptile is know to be an expert 

 climber and bird nest robber, but it 

 does not seem clear as to just how it 

 accomplished the former, and a full 

 explanation of the operation would 

 not lack interest. 



W. H. H. Baker, M. D., 



Harvey, la. 

 The black snake is a great tree 

 climber and a notorious destroyer of 

 young birds and eggs. — Editor. 



Cooper's Hawk 



On Easter Sunday I was out with a 

 view to locating Hawks or Owls nests 

 and about two miles out of this city 

 in a very lonesome part of the coun- 

 try I saw a Cooper's Hawk. On look- 

 ing about for a while was at last de- 

 lighted to see a nest in a pine tree. 

 This tree was larger than any of the 



