268 MICHIGAN BIRD LIFE. 
and abundantly in most sections, placing the nest in almost any kind of 
tree and at heights varying from a dozen feet to nearly one hundred. The 
nest is commonly composed of sticks of various sizes, and lined.with twigs 
and scale-like pieces of bark. Rarely does the nest contain any soft lining, 
although tufts of down from the old bird are often found clinging to the nest 
and when visible from below are often taken as proof that the nest is in use. 
The period of incubation is about twenty-four days, and only a single 
brood is reared in a season. The eggs vary from two to six and are com- 
monly bluish white or greenish white and unspotted, but occasionally 
some or all the eggs of a set are distinctly though faintly marked with 
spots of brown or gray. They average 1.93 by 1.50 inches, and may be 
laid at any time from late April to mid June, though most frequently in 
May. 
This is the common ‘chicken hawk” of the farmers, and probably is 
responsible for most of the loss of small chickens. The bird has a habit 
of dashing suddenly among the poultry, picking up a small chicken in its 
claws, and carrying it away so quickly that it is 
commonly impossible to kill the robber. It is 
very likely to return the same day or the next and 
to repeat its visits indefinitely until killed. It also 
eats large numbers of wild birds, including some 
quail, young partridges and young waterfowl, and 
although it does some good by eating an occasional 
mouse or squirrel, it is nevertheless on the whole 
a decidedly injurious species. Out of 94 stomachs 
reported on by Dr. Fisher, 34 contained poultry 
or game birds; 52, other birds; 11, mammals; one, 
a frog; three, lizards; and two, insects. 
Under the present Michigan law this species 
and the Sharp-shin are the only hawks which may 
be killed legally at any time; and the law seems 
to be a wise one, most of our other hawks being 
highly beneficial, and the few which form exceptions 
(as the Goshawk and Duck Hawk) being so rare 
as to be of no importance. 
Unlike the buzzard hawks the Cooper’s and 
Sharp-shin seldom wheel aloft on the lookout for 
food, but fly swiftly and silently from place to place, 
flapping the wings rapidly for a few seconds and : 
then gliding noiselessly, always alert and watch- teft leg and “foot of Cooper's 
ful, and ever ready to drop like an arrow on some Faw. (Original.) 
unsuspecting victim. Sometimes they alight for a few moments on the top 
of a dead tree, or on some other commanding perch, sitting quite stiff and 
upright, but soon taking wing again. They are among our most restless 
and active hawks, apparently endowed with a surplus of strength and 
energy and never content except when in action. 
TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 
Adult male: Top of head blackish or clear black, in strong contrast with the slate 
blue of the rest of the upper parts; feathers of occiput and nape pure white below the 
surface, the white showing when the feathers are ruffled; under parts white or nearly so, 
the chin and throat lightly streaked, the breast, belly and sides heavily barred, with red- 
dish brown; primaries blackish on outer webs, the inner webs with broad and scanty 
bars of dusky and white; tail rounded, similar in color to back, and with four or five broad 
