44 
BIRDS OF DURHAM AND VICINITY. 
chosen home and may be easily found during the earlier days of nest- 
ing by that means. Both sexes attend to house building with much 
zest. The nest is composed largely of sticks, and from the ground 
looks like a crow's nest, except that it is smaller. This species is often 
confused with the Pigeon Hawk {Falco cohivibanis^ , but the latter, 
like all true falcons, has the maxilla toothed, while velox has not. 
Accipiter cooperii. Cooper's Hawk. 333. 
This species occurs as a summer resident in about the same numbers, 
and for about the same period as the last, which it resembles in color 
and habits, but exceeds in size. Its record as a destroyer of birds and 
chickens is notoriously bad. Its nest is placed in evergreen trees as a 
rule, though seldom with any attempt at concealment. The young 
come out of the shell about the first of June. 
Accipiter atricapillus. Goshawk. 334. 
The Goshawk is not ordinarily found here in summer, but from the 
first of October until April or May, it may occasionally be seen. In 
four years I have observed but tliree of these hav»'ks — an adult seen in 
January, 1S99, another in November of the same year, and an immature 
female, which was shot September 28, 1900. This last one, upon 
dissection, revealed chicken in its gullet and stomach. As recorded 
in the case of the Marsh Hawk, this specimen had two ovaries of 
equal size and similar appearance, but only the left oviduct was visible. 
This hawk has all the fierce persistency of the Sharp-shinned, and 
Cooper's hawk, and annually destroys much poultry and game. It is 
the only hawk likely to be seen in the farmyard in winter. 
Buteo boreaiis. Red-tailed Hawk. 337. 
Red-tailed Hawks do not nest about here so far as I have been able 
to discover, and from a knowledge of their tastes, I should not expect 
them to. I suspect, however, if search were made about the Blue 
Hills of Strafford, they would be found breeding. As a rule they 
prefer more broken hill country than is found about here. In the 
migrating season, March, September, and October, they are not 
uncoaimon. They are generally inoffensive hawks, content to feed on 
mice and other small quadrupeds, with an occasional frog or insect. 
Now and then they kill birds, and sometimes become a menace to 
poultry, but not often. They are quite hardy and are sometimes seen 
here in winter. 
