H. C. OBERHOLSER. 107 



the Hawks and Owls of the United States, and which is 

 here quoted for the benefit of any who may not have had 

 the pleasure of reading the original. He says : " The 

 writer once reared, and kept for a year or more, one which 

 was taken from a nest when only a few days old. It finally 

 had to be killed because of its fierceness toward strangers, 

 although it was never vicious towards its owner. When no 

 other person was present it would alight on its owner's 

 shoulder, and show signs of contentment and pleasure by 

 uttering a low musical note, and by caresses, which con- 

 sisted in gently passing his ear or a lock of his hair be- 

 tween its bill very much as it did its own feathers in the 

 act of pluming itself." The great variety of food accepted 

 by this species renders easy the provision for that portion 

 of its needs in captivity. Dr. Fisher in the above mentioned 

 treatise names representatives of eleven distinct classes of 

 animal life, which have been taken from stomachs of the 

 Red-shouldered Hawk. 



On May 26, 1887, a friend of the writer became the pos- 

 sessor of a young nestling of this species. Though only a 

 few days' old its appetite was of most voracious description ; 

 for shortly after its capture a quantity of raw beef fed in 

 small pieces was devoured with evident relish. Kept in a 

 yard in town it soon became accustomed to its surroundings, 

 and grew rapidly to maturity. Its food consisted of fresh 

 meat of any kind, rats, mice, birds, etc. ; but the quantity 

 daily consumed became very moderate, a single bird about 

 the size of a Sparrow, or its equivalent in other meat, being 

 usually sufficient. Flesh of any description boiled or other- 

 wise cooked, of course with salt, was to all appearances 

 eaten as readily as though fresh, and formed not an incon- 

 siderable element of its diet. It drank water freely, al- 

 though generally only about once a day. Under ordinary 

 circumstances it would not trouble the poultry, with which 

 it came, however, daily in contact ; but occasionally, when it 

 chanced to be unusually pressed by hunger, the young 



