32 THE HAWKS AND OWLS OP THE UNITED STATES. 



Table showing the results of examinations of iS4 stomachs of the Marsh HawTc 

 (Circus hudsonius) — Continued. 



Sdmmaet.— Of 124 stomachs examined, 7 contained poultry or game birds ; 34, other birds ; 57, mice ; 

 22, other mammals; 7, reptiles; 2, frogs; 14, insects; 1 indeterminate matter, and 8 wore empty. 



SHARP-SHINNED HAWK. 



Accipiter velox. 

 [Plate 4^Adult.] 



The Sharp- shinned Hawk, one of the commonest and best known of 

 our birds of prey, has an extensive distribution. It breeds in most, if 

 not all, of the States and in the British Provinces, as far north as the 

 Arctic circle. In winter it is found from about parallel 40° N"., south- 

 ward to Guatemala. In the latter part of September and the first of 

 October it migrates through the Middle States in vast numbers. In 

 southern New York the writer has seen several hundred during a day's 

 tramp, the majority high in the air, though a few were flying low in 

 search of food. The northward migration in spring, in the same local- 

 ity, takes place during the latter part of March and first of April. 



The food of this daring little Hawk is made up almost entirely of 

 wild birds and young poultry, though occasionally it will take a few 

 insects, mice, reptiles, or batrachians. Out of nineteen specimens ex- 

 amined by Dr. B. H. Warren, seventeen contained remains of poultry or 

 wild birds. From this data and from an examination of our more ex- 

 tended table it will be seen how universal this class of food is. The 

 following quotation from Audubon shows the variety of its bill of fare : 



" The food of this hawk consists chiefly of birds of various sizes, from 

 the smallest of our warblers to the Passenger Pigeon and young chicken, 

 the latter appearing to afford a special temptation to it, as has been 

 above related. I am also aware that it feeds occasionally on small rep- 

 tiles and insects, and I shot the male represented in the plate, on wing, 

 whilst it held in its claws the small Shrew also represented." (Ornith. 

 Biography, vol. iv, p. 526.) 



When a pair of Sharp-shinned Hawks find a farm where young chick- 

 ens are easily obtained, they generally visit it until the supply gives 

 out, or they themselves meet a tragic death. Nuttall speaks of a single 

 bird which came every day to a farmhouse until it had carried away 

 between twenty and thirty young chickens. 



