230 
THE CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY 
siderable time. Having missed its prey in the first attempt, 
it was now so intent on the object beneath it, that my ap- 
proach was entirely disregarded. In another moment, and 
with more fatal aim, it darted into the grass, with a rustling 
noise, and soon arose with its victim. Being sufficiently 
near, I shot the Hawk, and secured its prize, which was yet 
alive. It was a male partridge, and had, with its compa- 
nions, sought shelter in the asparagus; but with all the well- 
known ingenuity of these birds, it availed nothing against 
the penetrating eye of this Hawk. 
The voice of the Redtailed Hawk is harsh, and may be 
heard at a considerable distance. Its ungracious and terrifying 
screams are the signals for its prey to seek shelter from its ta- 
lons; butin doingthis they commonly fall victims to this artifice 
of their destroyer. Like the lion howling to affrighten and 
put in motion the beasts of the forest, that their fears may 
overcome their instinct, and press them headlong to destruc- 
tion. So it appears to be a finesse of this Hawk to skim the 
surface of the ground, and hover around the favourite haunts 
of its prey, and by those desolating screams, put in motion 
such of the animals or feathered tribe which may be near, 
and which, while seeking more secure shelter, are pounced 
upon and destroyed by their inveterate enemy. 
The Red-tailed Hawk is designated by the farmers under 
the titles of the “Chicken Hawk,” and “Hen Hawk,” 
and many artifices are employed to destroy this bird, so in- 
jurious to the farmer’s poultry yard. The use of the gun 
more frequently fails in their destruction than other means. 
Seated, generally, on some detached tree of the wood, or 
in the middle of a field, on the decayed extremity of a 
topmost branch, the sphere of vision to this Hawk is very 
extensive. Naturally shy, and, perhaps, conscious of its 
depredations, it avoids man as its common and only enemy: 
consequently, it is exceedingly difficult to approach, and 
can seldom be done, except through the agency of the horse. 
In this case, the disposition of jhe bird appears totally 
changed, and by some blind fatality, will suffer a man on 
horseback to pass immediately under the tree on which it 
sits, without showing signs of fear; but as it is not always 
convenient and practicable to employ a horse for this pur- 
pose, other means are resorted to. A friend of mine, who 
resides a few miles from Philadelphia, has been very suc- 
cessful in ridding himself of these Hawks, by using steel 
traps. These he would place in the neighbourhood of those 
trees usually occupied by the Hawks, and after securing the 
traps to the earth, he would bate them with a dead fowl, 
and, sometimes, only the feathers and offals of fowls, and 
which seldom failed to answer the purpose. He would only 
resort to this plan after having discovered a Hawk visit the 
same tree two or three times successively. 
During protracted cold weather and deep snows, the or- 
dinary supplies of food are no longer to be obtained by 
Hawks, and, like other shy and vigilant birds, their ferocity 
and energies become in a measure subdued, by the severi- 
ties of the winter. The past winter was one of unusual 
coldness, and these, as well as other birds, suffered much 
from its inclemencies. I have heard that a Red-tailed Hawk 
was seen on the public highway, scratching and gleaning a 
scanty meal, from among the droppings of the horses, and on 
the approach of a sleigh with bells, merely avoided it, by 
flying on the fence by the road side, not more than twenty 
feet from the passengers, and resumed its former occupation 
so soon as the sleigh had passed. 
The young of the Red-tailed Hawk are very noisy when 
confined to their nests, keeping up an incessant clamor. They 
are protected and fed by both parents, until they have at- 
tained an age sufficient to shift for themselves, when not 
only they are forsaken by the parents, but a complete sepa- 
ration of each member of the family takes place, and each 
becomes selfish and shy towards the other, as though there 
never existed affinity between them. 
The Red-tailed Hawk commences building its nest in Fe- 
bruary, generally on some tall tree, in an unfrequented 
wood, which consists of sticks and coarse grass. I do not re- 
collect of ever having seen but two: one was on the north- 
ern range of hills which bounds the great valley of Chester 
county, and the other, in an extensive pine wood, in Jersey. 
The eggs are commonly four or five in number, of a dirty 
white and spotted with a dark brown colour; and the fol- 
lowing description, by Wilson, so perfectly agrees with the 
specimen from which our drawing is made, that I have in- 
serted it at length. 
“The Red-tailed Hawk is twenty inches long, and three 
feet nine inches in extent; bill blue black; cere and sides of 
the mouth yellow, tinged with green; lores and spot on the 
under eye-lid white, the former marked with fine radiating 
hairs; eyfe-brow, or cartilage, a dull eel-skin colour, promi- 
nent, projecting over the eye; a broad streak of dark brown 
extends from the sides of the mouth backwards; crown and 
hind-head dark brown, seamed with white and ferruginous; 
sides of the neck dull ferruginous, streaked with brown; 
eye large; iris pale amber; back and shoulders deep brown; 
wings dusky, barred with blackish; ends of the five first 
primaries nearly black; scapularies barred broadly with 
white and brown; sides of the tail-coverts white, barred 
with ferruginous, middle ones dark, edged with rust; tail 
rounded, extending two inches beyond the wings, and of a 
bright red brown, with a single band of black near the end, 
and tipped with brownish white; on some of the lateral 
feathers are slight indications of the remains of other nar- 
row bars; lower parts brownish white; the breast ferrugi- 
nous, streaked with dark brown; across the belly a band of 
