1892
Sept. 7
(No 5)
Concord, Massachusetts.
Mass
Concord.
Red-eyed vireo, - A single bird in a pine on the hill.
Solitary Sandpiper. - One flying high calling.
Sharp-shinned Hawk. - A young bird soaring in circles at
                             a height of several hundred feet, perhaps migrating
                             for its general course was southwards.
  At short intervals during the forenoon I heard Red-
shouldered Hawks screaming. Possible there was one bird
but if so it moved frequently from place to place. The
cries were quite as wild, singing and exultant as in spring.
The Blue Jay's imitation is certainly good but it never deceives
me. It reproduces the form merely and lacks the essential
quality of the tone. This difference serves if the bird is near. If
distant I have only to remember that the Jay never utters more
than three or four notes (usually but two) in succession whereas
the Hawk commonly repeats the cry from six to an indefinite
number of times. It is decidedly the wildest sound to be
heard in our Massachusetts woods. I am puzzled to know
just what it means. One might imagine the bird to
be venting his finer joy over the capture of some creature
but he is invariably silent when hunting or feeding and 
when screaming is always on wing usually soaring in circles
but sometimes dashing in and out among the trees. Probably
this screaming is merely a manipulation of high animal
spirits although in the spring times it evidently has a
close connection to love making.
  It is easy to distinguish this species from the Red-tail
by flight alone its movements being quicker and more decided
and its wing-beats much more rapid than those of the larger bird.
[margin]Buteo lineatus[/margin