PIGEON HAWK. Ill 



seen foraging among the immense flocks of Curlews (Numenius horealis) 

 which then covered the hills in the vicinity." (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., 

 Phila., 1861, p. 216.) 



In Texas, Mr. George B. Sennett secured a bird whose crop contained 

 nearly the whole of a ground dove. Mr. Thomas Mcllraith mentions 

 seeing one of these Falcons dive into a flock of blackbirds on one ot 

 the marshes of Ontario, and says: a I once saw him i stoop' on a flock 

 as they hurried toward the marsh for shelter. How closely they hud- 

 dled together, as if seeking mutual protection, but he went right 

 through the flock and came out on the other side with one in each fist." 

 (Birds of Ontario, 1886, p. 149.) 



Occasionally the Pigeon Hawk is quite destructive to young chickens, 

 as the following from the pen of the late Dr. William Wood will show : 

 "InMay, 1860, a gentleman who resides some five miles distant, informed 

 me that a small hawk came almost every day and carried off a chicken 

 for him. * * * The next day the same little hawk returned and 

 was shot, and is now in my collection, a beautiful representative of the 

 pigeon hawk." (Am. Nat., vol. vn, 1873, p. 342.) 



The following from Dr. B. H. Warren shows it is also injurious to 

 domesticated birds other than chickens: "Two Pigeon Hawks during 

 the late fall lurked about the southern suburbs of the borough of 

 West Chester, preying at regular intervals on the pigeons of a black- 

 smith. In one week the hawks killed or drove away fifty of the birds. 

 The hawks would enter the boxes and take from them the pigeons." 

 (Birds of Pennsylvania, 1888, p. 100.) 



The following species of birds were x>ositively identified among the 

 stomach contents : 



Colaptes auratns. Melospiza georglana. 



Chcetura pelagica. Passerina cyanea. 



JDolichonyx oryzivorus. Tachycineta bicolor. 



Spinus tristis. Passer domesticus. 



Certhia familiaris. Dendroica palmarum. 



Junco hyemalis. Vireo olivaeeus. 



Spizella pusilla. Vireo solitarius. 



Spizella socialis. Turdus. 

 Melospiza f aetata. 



The nesting site of the Pigeon Hawk is very varied. In some in- 

 stances the bird deposits its eggs on a ledge or in a cavity on the face 

 of a cliff, in others in the hollows of trees or in nests made among their 

 branches, and occasionally in the deserted nests of other birds. The 

 eggs, deposited on the ledges or in the cavities of cliffs, like those of 

 the Duck Hawk, rarely have much nesting material surrounding them, 

 while those in trees are placed in quite bulky nests. These latter 

 nests, which are found generally in evergreens from 8 to 15 feet from 

 the ground, are composed of twigs, dry grass, and moss, lined with 

 feathers, inner bark, or other soft material. 



