BIRDS OF DURHAM AND VICINITY. 43 
seen as the bird flies and serves to identify it at a great distance. The 
food of the Marsh Hawk is generally exemplary, mice forming a 
greater per cent than anything else. Sometimes, however, they tail 
into evil ways, and destroy birds and even poultry. I know of one 
instance where a Marsh Hawk regularly levied on a farmyard for her 
food, and was finally caught in a trap, but this was an exceptional 
case. An adult female which came to my hand in August showed 
both right and left ovaries of equal size, though only the left oviduct 
was functional. They build coarse nests on the ground in grassy 
swamps. 1 have seen them here from the middle of April to the 
middle of October. 
Accipiter velox. Sharp-shinned Hawk. 332. 
This vicious little hawk is rather common from April till late in 
November. It is notorious as a killer of small birds and chickens, 
and occupies a prominent place on our brief list of noxious birds. 
Its audacity when hungry is astonishing. I have seen one pounce 
on a chicken, right in the village, and wait till it had very delib- 
erately lixed its claws in the chicken's back, eyeing at the same 
time a man, just across the street, with the greatest insolence 
imaginable. I once saw one of these hawks dash am.ong a flock 
of goldfinches that were feeding in a weedy run. They took flight 
precipitately in all directions, but he singled out one and gave 
chase. No matter how that goldfinch turned, the hawk was always 
headed for his mark and constantly nearing it. It seemed as if 
every tack of the little bird was anticipated by its relentless 
pursuer. I suppose less than a minute after the hawk's appearance 
he had the goldfinch in his clutches. The final scene was enacted 
v^ithin thirty feet of my face, yet such was the lightning-like quickness 
of the hawk^s grasp, that I could not perceive it. I saw the birds about 
eight inches apart; I heard the cruel sound of claws in contact with 
the goldfinch's pinions ; I saw the triumphant murderer holding his 
luckless victim, one of its little wings still spread, but the act of capture 
was like a trick by sleight of hand. The hawk's motion was not 
arrested in the least, at the capture. He kept on straight ahead for a 
short distance, till his momentum Vv'as reduced, then turned about 
and descended to a wall, where he began at once to enjoy the fruit of 
his labors. 
Sharp-shinned Hawks build their nests in pine or hemlock woods at 
varying distances from the ground. They are very noisy about their 
