RED-TAILED HAWK. 47 
trees in the secluded forests of this part of Massachusetts. 
The young birds soon become very submissive, and allow them- 
selves to be handled with impunity by those who feed them. 
The older birds sometimes contest with each other in the air 
about their prey, and nearly or wholly descend to the earth 
grappled in each other’s talons. Though this species has the 
general aspect of the Buzzard, its manners are very similar to 
those of the Goshawk; it is equally fierce and predatory, 
prowling around the farm often when straitened for food, 
and seizing, now and then, a hen or chicken, which it snatches 
by making a lateral approach: it sweeps along near the sur- 
face of the ground, and grasping its prey in its talons, bears it 
away to devour in some place of security. These depredations 
on the farm-yard happen, however, only in the winter; at all 
other seasons this is one of the shyest and most difficult 
birds to approach. It will at times pounce upon rabbits and 
considerable-sized birds, particularly Larks, and has been 
observed in the Southern States perseveringly to pursue 
squirrels from bough to bough until they are overtaken and 
seized in the talons. It is frequently seen near wet meadows 
where mice, moles, and frogs are prevalent, and also feeds 
upon lizards, — appearing, indeed, often content with the 
most humble game. 
They usually associate in pairs, and seem much attached to 
each other; yet they often find it convenient and profitable to 
separate in hunting their prey, about which they would readily 
quarrel if brought into contact. Though a good deal of their 
time passes in indolence, while perched in some tall and dead- 
ened tree, yet at others they may be seen beating the ground 
as they fly over it in all directions in quest of game. On some 
occasions they amuse themselves by ascending to a vast eleva- 
tion, like the aspiring Eagle. On a fine evening, about the 
middle of January, in South Carolina, I observed one of these 
birds leave its withered perch, and soaring aloft over the wild 
landscape, in a mood of contemplation, begin to ascend 
towards the thin skirting of elevated clouds above him. At 
length he passed this sublime boundary, and was now per- 
