Bethel, Maine
1907
July 18-22
(No 2)
equanimity paying little or no heed to it unless actually
struck by the Crows when they would sometimes change their
course or come throw themselves quickly upward or to one side
with an abrupt jerk. The ordinary flight of the Broad-wing
is smooth and graceful if somewhat slow. It can glide through
the densest woods, on set wings, with remarkable care and
swiftness. It soars in circles, high in air, quite as impressively
as the Red-tailed or Red-shouldered Hawks but rather less
after I think. It is a much less wide ranger than either
of the species just mentioned. Indeed it seldom goes more
than a mile and often not half a mile from its nest or
favorite roosting place, in pursuit of food. All this I have
noted at Bethel during the past few days as well as on
previous occasions at Concord and elsewhere.
Broad-winged Hawk
  About 9 A.M. of July? 20th I saw a fine adult male Marsh Hawk
cross the wide open field at the rear of the Doctor's house in hot
pursuit of a much smaller bird. What the latter was I could
not determine for it doubled and twisted so that its manner of
flight gave me no clue and the sun so dazzled my eyes that
I was unable to make out its coloring while, however, apparently to be
nearly uniform and rather dark. At first I took the bird to
be a Flicker but just as it reached the woods and glided
smoothly and swiftly on set wings for a few yards before disappearing
among the foliage of a big balsam it looked and acted more like
a male Sharp-shinned Hawk. Whatever it was the Marsh Hawk gave
it a sharp chase and, no doubt, something of a fright. When I
first noticed him he was about 100 yards distant from me and
perhaps fifty feet from the smaller bird. Flying at a height of
some twenty feet above the ground - which here sloped gently
downward towards the woods - and lashing the air vigorously and
Marsh Hawk chases a bird.