OF VIRGINIA 105 
like most others, imagine they are harmful, and scare 
away and destroy much game, whereas, when passing to 
and fro over the marshes, they are gathering in princi- 
pally mice and the Norway rat, which inhabit the marshes 
to a great extent. Fresh eges May ist to 10th. Only one 
brood a season. A few birds are distributed throughout 
our area during the entire vear. 
GeENus ACCIPITER. 
[332]. <lectpiter velox (Wilson). Sharp-shinned Hawk, 
[Little Chicken Hawk]. 
Rayce.—North America. Breeds nearly throughout 
the United States and Canada from northwestern Alaska, 
northwestern Mackenzie, southern Jeewatin, central 
Quebec, and Newfoundland southward; winters from 
British Columbia, Colorado, Towa, northern Ohio, and 
Massachusetts, south to Panama. 
Of all the birds of prey found breeding within our 
limits, this is one of the most harmful, not only to young 
poultry, but the amount of small birds they destroy in the 
course of a season is something enormous. They are 
a rare breeding bird in Tidewater, although further 
inland they become more numerous. I suppose this 
species is more often taken for the Sparrow Hawk than 
itself bv the country people in general; in fact, many bene- 
ficial Sparrow Hawks lose their lives annually through 
being mistaken for the Sharp-shinned Hawk. I know of 
no more persistent individual than the Sharp-shinned, and 
when once he has located your chicks and tasted one, 
nothing short of a gun will keep him away. I have had 
