80 THE HAWKS AND OWLS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



ponds to spawn, it devours large numbers of them, and later in the 

 season it is a not uncommon occurrence to see an individual with a frog 

 or snake dangling from its talons. 



Mr. Maynard mentions seeing one of these birds attack and kill an 

 adult brown thrush. The writer considers this a very exceptionable 

 event, for from his own observations and those of other ornithologists, 

 it is an undeniable fact that the Broad-winged Hawk rarely attacks 

 birds, and when it does they are generally young just from the nest. 

 In the woods the small birds pay little attention to this Hawk and show 

 no fear in its presence. Mr. James W. Banks found the remains of three 

 unfledged thrushes in the stomach of one killed near St. John, New 

 Brunswick. (Auk, vol. I, 1884, p. 96.) 



Among mammals the smaller squirrels and wood mice are most fre- 

 quently taken, though field mice and shrews also are found in the 

 stomach contents. 



During August and September a considerable portion of the food con- 

 sists of the larva3 of certain large moths which are common at this sea- 

 son, notably those of the elm sphinx (Ceratomia amyntor), of the Cecro- 

 pian moth (Attacus cecrovia), and of the Polyphemus moth (Teleapolyphc- 

 mus), and it is the exception not to find their remains in the stomachs 

 examined. Grasshoppers, crickets, and beetles are also greedily de- 

 voured. 



The following quotations bear on the subject of this hawk's food: 



Audubon says: "In the stomach of this bird I found wood frogs, 

 portions of small snakes, together with feathers, and the hair of several 

 small specimens of quadrupeds." (Ornith. Biography, vol. I, p. 463.) 



Mr. J. W. Preston says: "Their food consists o± small squirrels, 

 frogs, and, in fact, any small quarry easily captured. Never have I 

 known them to molest the poultry." (Ornith. and Oologist, vol. xiii, 

 1888, p. 20.) 



Mr. J. G. Wells, speaking of the bird in the West Indies, says: 

 " Numerous ; feeds on lizards, rats, snakes, young birds, etc., and occa- 

 sionally makes a raid on the poultry yard." (Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 

 IX, 1886, p. 622.) 



Dr. F. W. Laugdon says: " The stomach of a specimen of this hawk 

 taken at Madisonville in April, 1877, contained the greater part of the 

 skeleton and hair of a small wood mouse (Arvicola ansterus), a lizard 

 (Eumeces) about 6 inches long, and tenor twelve small beetles, with 

 numerous elytra of the same." (Journ. Cincinnati Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. 

 I, p. 116.) 



Dr. B. H. Warren gives the following: "In twelve specimens exam- 

 ined by myself, four revealed mice; three, small birds; four, frogs; one, 

 killed the 22d of May, 1882, was gorged with crayfish, with which were 

 traces of coleopterous insects." (Birds of Pennsylvania, 1888, p. 91.) 



The only act of the Broad- winged Hawk which seems injurious to 

 agriculture is the killing of toads and small snakes; the former of which 

 are exclusively insect-eaters, the latter very largely so. In one respect 



