The Sharp-shinned Hawk 



Taken in Idaho 



THE AGE OF INNOCENCE 



the mazes of brush or weed, or else retire quickly to thick foliage, there to 

 await with the patience of a statue the first stirrings of the frightened 

 quarry. The prey, when caught, is held at "arm's length" until quite 

 dead, and then either eaten on the spot or else carried up to some elevated 

 perch. 



Sharp-shinned Hawks occur in very limited numbers in spring and 

 summer at Transition or Canadian levels throughout the State, or at least 

 as far south as the San Jacinto Mountains. They are, however, much more 

 numerous in winter and during migrations. They probably indulge as 

 definite a predilection for a winter as for their summer home. For seven 

 winters past (the period of my residence in California), I have seen a 

 Sharp-shinned Hawk pass over my yard in a westerly direction at a very 

 early hour in the morning. The bird must roost somewhere in the im- 

 mediate neighborhood, yet I have never seen him at any other time or 

 place, save once when he tried to get a "pet" (but unconfined) Hermit 

 Thrush. There is something gruesome, therefore, about the bird's secre- 

 tiveness, about his ability to pursue a rapacious calling unhindered by the 

 guns of "Civilization." Curiosity, however, sometimes gets the better of a 



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