46 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



-^a^! 



photograph from C. M. Wagner and W. Boesser 

 NEW JERSEY OSPREYS MADE WISE CHOICE UF HOxME SITE 



From their nest in an old telephone pole in Middlesex County the 

 birds have a clear and unobstructed view of the surrounding country 

 and easily may detect the approach of an enemy. 



flights. In October, 1 931, in the course 

 of a few hours, I saw there several hun- 

 dred sharp-shins drifting down with the 

 north wind, alternately flapping their wings 

 and sailing with pinions outstretched, 

 passing without pause out over the waters 

 of the lake toward the distant American 

 shore. 



While there were never many in sight 

 at one time, they passed at intervals of 

 two or three minutes in a steadily moving 

 stream. Elsewhere in the fall I have ob- 

 served Cooper's and sharp-shinned hawks 

 scattered over the entire sky, moving 

 steadily toward the south. These flights 

 of hawks are most marked in fall, for 



in spring the birds 

 seem to travel north- 

 ward over wider 

 areas. 



At a number of 

 ])laces it is regular 

 ]iractice to shoot these 

 i)irds for sport, and 

 many thousands have 

 been killed in this 

 manner. Occasionally, 

 as near Cape May, 

 New Jersey, they are 

 used for food. 



The different spe- 

 cies of the hawk group 

 vary widely in the 

 extent of their migra- 

 tions. Some, such as 

 Swainson's hawk, 

 make j ourneys that 

 carry them from the 

 western Plains south 

 into Argentina, while 

 others, such as the 

 sparrow hawk, may be 

 quite sedentary except 

 in the northern sec- 

 tions of their range. 



In general, birds of 

 this group withdraw 

 at least in part from 

 the extreme northern 

 areas that they in- 

 habit, probably be- 

 cause food becomes 

 scarce and difficult to 

 obtain. The gyrf al- 

 cons, however, are 

 typically northern, 

 n e \' e r coming far 

 south, and rough-legged and allied hawks 

 course over the northern plains in the 

 greatest extremes of cold weather. 



FLIGHT METHODS VARY 



Flight in the hawklike birds varies coii- 

 sidera1)ly, according to the kind. Eagles, 

 the large hawks, and the vultures, both of 

 the New and Old Worlds, have broad 

 wings which they flap slowly. Frequently 

 they soar with set wings, utilizing air 

 currents rising from the heated surface 

 of the earth, or currents generated by 

 winds. These birds frequently soar for 

 hours with scarcely a wing beat, turning 

 and wheeling in the sky, often at such 



