NATURAL HISTORY. 



51 



its smaller size, serve as additional marks. 



I will not attempt to describe the fish 

 hawk, as I think he is well enough known 

 to all. He is not met far from water, and 

 will not be confused with the others. 



The goshawk is interesting, but his rari- 

 ty makes a thorough study of his habits 

 impossible in this section. His home is 

 in the far North, and his visits in this 

 climate are irregular and infrequent. He 

 is the boldest and most destructive of the 

 race, and it is a good thing he is not a con- 

 stant resident with us. He is handsome, 

 like many other villains, in his suit of 

 steel blue and white. He does not hesitate 

 to fly even into a farm house if a plump 

 chicken he has set his eye on happens to 

 take refuge there, and he seems utterly 

 fearless of mankind. 



The Cooper is the common chicken 

 hawk. His disposition is like his first 

 cousin's, the goshawk's, though perhaps 

 a trifle less reckless. Being smaller he is 

 not quite so destructive. Nine out of 10 

 chickens that mysteriously disappear may 

 be counted against this species. A farmer 

 told me last spring that a hawk took 12 

 of his broilers in one day and carried them 

 off to the woods. A Cooper has nest- 

 ed there for several years and for the 

 brood of 5 young hawklets 12 chicks 

 would not be half enough. All the farmers 

 in that vicinity were more or less troubled. 

 I have often found the remains of quails in 

 Cooper's nests, and their destruction of 

 this noble game bird is, of itself, enough to 

 condemn them; but until the hunter is fa- 

 miliar with this particular species, let him 

 refrain from using the gun and not make 

 the mistake of killing one of the harmless 

 hawks. This brigand may be known by 

 his movements, which are quick and some-. 

 what snakelike. He winds his way through 

 thick woods and underbrush with light- 

 ning speed, with apparent ease, and his er- 

 ratic movements at once betray him. At a 

 distance he can be identified by his long 

 tail, which serves the purpose of a rudder 

 in his eccentric flight. 



Male hawks are always much smaller 

 than their mates. For this reason identifi- 

 cation by size alone is not possible in most 

 cases. The male red tailed is but a trifle 

 larger than the female red shouldered, and 

 Cooper and the female sharp shinned are 

 so similar in size, color and markings, that 

 one can not always distinguish them with 

 certainty. The tail is the only key. In the 

 former it is square at the end and in the 

 latter it is rounded. Well do the small 

 birds know these 2 murderers. Their ap- 

 proach is heralded by a chorus of fright- 

 ened cries from all the feathered tribe, and 

 there is a great commotion and a general 

 hurrying to some place of safety in a 

 thick bush or hedge. The sight of any 



other species does not alarm them at all, 

 and this fact alone is enough to exonerate 

 the others. 



The marsh hawk is perhaps the most 

 beneficial of the whole tribe, and certainly 

 does the least harm. Mice, moles and 

 frogs constitute by far the larger part of 

 his diet. He is seldom seen far from the 

 ground, and is the only hawk that nests 

 on the ground. For this reason he is more 

 easily and more often shot. Almost any 

 open bog of any size is the home of a pair 

 of these birds, cranberry bogs being given 

 the preference. With slow, graceful flight 

 he hunts over the fields and beats up and 

 down the hedgerows and fences for his 

 favorite meal of mice, seldom more than a 

 few feet from the ground, a large white 

 patch at the base of his tail serving as a 

 sure mark for identification. 



The broad winged hawk is not common, 

 but at the same time can hardly be classed 

 as rare. Last spring I was fortunate 

 enough to find 3 pairs nesting. The spe- 

 cies may be recognized by the short, stub- 

 by tail and rounded form, combined with 

 its small size. The other species of this 

 size are long winged and long tailed. He 

 is a quiet and retiring bird and is not likely 

 to be found unless persistently looked for. 



The sparrow hawk is common in nearly 

 all parts of the United States except New 

 England. I know of but 2 pairs that breed 

 here. Although small, they are the hand- 

 somest of the raptores, and are very inter- 

 esting. I have a pair I raised from the 

 nest and they are amusing pets. They are 

 the only real falcons in this part of the 

 country, and are closely allied to the 

 famous falcons of the middle ages. Their 

 food consists mainly of grasshoppers and 

 the English sparrow, making them public 

 benefactors. They are a trifle smaller than 

 the sharp shinned hawk, and may be dis- 

 tinguished by their bright colors and con- 

 stant cry, "killy, killy." Both of the nests 

 I refer to above were peculiarly placed. 

 The usual site for their nest is in a hollow 

 tree or a deserted woodpecker's hole, but 

 one of the nests I found was in the hayloft 

 of a barn, the entrance being through a 

 knot hole. A tunnel, 10 inches long, was 

 then made in the hay and a slight enlarge- 

 ment hollowed out at the end where the 

 eggs were laid. The other nest was in a 

 pigeon house in the middle of the town, 

 and the hawks and the pigeons raised 

 their broods in perfect harmony. 



There are, of course, numerous other 

 species of hawks, not resident in the East- 

 ern United States, that I am not able to 

 describe, but they are all harmless with the 

 exception of the duck hawk. This bird is 

 a terror to the water fowl and is well 

 known to those who live within its habitat. 



All the small owls are to be protected. 



