
750 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [Vor. XXXVI. 
The converging arrows AA and C explain the abundance of 
water fowl along the coast of North Carolina. 
FLIGHTS oF HAWKS IN SPRING. 
From the middle of March until the first part of May flights 
of hawks occur along the Atlantic coast. These flights appear 
to be greatest over the hills near the New Jersey coast, but occur 
also at some distance in the interior. Near Paterson there is 
a hill about 500 feet high, part of the Watchung range, over 
which large numbers of hawks pass in the spring. On the west 
slope of this hill many pits and brushwood blinds are made every 
year, both in the woods and in the open ground, and are occu- 
pied during March and April by men and boys who make a prac- 
tice of killing hawks for New York and New Jersey taxidermists. 
The author has witnessed several flights of hawks on this hill, 
which is the first high land back of the coast. 
The most favorable wind for a flight is west, or a little south 
of west. The red-tailed hawks are the first to appear in the 
spring, and the sharp-shinned and the broad-winged hawks are 
thelast. The periods when some of the hawks may be expected 
are given below : 
. Fishhawk, latter part March to May r. 
Marsh hawk, April. 
Sharp-shinned hawk, April 10-May Io. 
Cooper's hawk, April. 
Broad-winged hawk, April 10-May 5. 
Red-tailed hawk, March 1-April ro. 
— 
Observations described above seem to warrant the following 
conclusions : 
I. That the migratory movements of hawks are largely deter- 
mined by the direction of the wind, hawks regularly depending 
. on favorable winds as a help in migration. 
2. That an adverse wind not only retards the migratory 
movement, but that it almost completely arrests it. 
3. That the migratory period of the various species of hawks 
lasts for from about fifteen days to one month ; during this time 
the migratory movements take place on days when favorable 
winds occur. 

