OF VIRGINIA 109 
[3833]. Aecipiter cooperi (Bonaparte). Coopers Hawk. 
[Chicken Hawk]. 
Rancr.—North America. Breeds from southern 
British Columbia, southern Alberta, southern Keewatin, 
central Quebec, and Prince Edward Island south to 
southern border of the United States; winters from 
southern British Columbia, Colorado, Nebraska, Ohio, and 
Massachusetts south to Costa Rica, and occasionally 
further north. 
A resident the year round, and of our harmful species, 
this is probably the worst of all. It is this hawk, half- 
way in size between the Red-shouldered, and Sparrow 
Hawks, that does the most damage to the poultry through- 
out our section. I have, on my place, lost as many as six 
small chickens from one flock in a day, by this persistent 
and rapid-winged fellow. During the spring and fall 
migrations they are more numerous, and the very early 
and late hatched chickens suffer accordingly. They also 
prey upon small birds and mammals to some extent, but 
their chief diet with us seems to be poultry. I remember 
some years back when Meadowlarks (Sturnella magna) 
were on the game list, and I was shooting them in a tall 
broom-straw field. A Cooper’s Hawk darted down and 
seized one as it rose in front of me. I immediately fired 
and secured the hawk, the lark sailing away as though 
unhurt. During the summer of 1910, I had one of these 
hawks take a half-grown chicken from a flock in my 
garden, and within fifteen feet of where I was working. 
I watched him vanish in the fringe of woods some hundred 
feet away and counted another chick gone. Two days later 
the chicken showed up, quite weak, and with sears on 
