The Goshawks 



Taken near Spokane 



Whoof ! Biff! the blue terror struck 

 a blow from behind and sent the 

 birdman sprawling. He had, 

 moreover, quick need to defend 

 himself with sticks and stones, for 

 the bird was back again in a trice, and a 

 tough sombrero alone saved him from 

 severe scalp wounds. Of course there 

 was a nest hard by, and we found it, sorre 

 sixty feet up, in a dense stand of fir trees. 

 I accepted the photographic chal- 

 lenge which the discovery 

 afforded, but first impro- 

 vised a coat of mail, where- 

 in a stuffed knapsack did 

 duty for a helmet, and a 

 wrapping of dunnage bags 

 was designed to protect the 

 shoulders. Like Don 

 Quixote, I set out to meet 

 my foe, but the gentil bird 

 had respect for knighthood 

 even of this decadent type, 

 and forbore to offer further 

 indignities. As she left the 

 lists she indulged a sten- 

 torian cackle, ak, ak, ak, 

 ak, a note which reminded one again of the Cooper Hawk, save that 

 it had a deal more of menace in it. 



Fortunately for our game and poultry, the "Blue Hawk" is com- 

 paratively rare in California. It appears to be confined during the nest- 

 ing season to the timbered sections of the northern mountain ranges, 

 save that it follows the Sierras south to about latitude 36 30'. I have 

 myself seen it only in the Warner Mountains, on Mt. Shasta (at timber- 

 line), in the Mammoth section, and in the valley of the Little Yosemite 

 near Grigsby Point. The bird haunts the darkest woods as well as the 

 open heights, and makes the Sierra Grouse (Dendragapus obscurus sierra) 

 a special object of attack. At other seasons it invades the lower valleys, 

 chiefly those of northern California, receiving, no doubt, some accessions 

 from outside the State. 



The Western Goshawk is excelled by none in display of cunning or 

 prowess. At times, indeed, the thirst for blood appears to dull its dis- 



16 JO 



AN INTERRUPTED MEAL 

 THE YOUNG GOSHAWK HAS CAPTURED A ROBIN 



Pholo by IV. H. Wright 



