HAWKS OP THE CANADIAN PRAIRIE PROVINCES. 
3 
very different. It usually flies low, beating, with regularly measured, 
leisurely strokes, up and down over waste land and low scrub, rising 
with even sweep to surmount a wooded fence line or copse, and plunging 
rapidly down again to surprise unsuspecting prey on the other side. 
The young bird of the year is practically reddish brown all over and the 
adult female is similar but lighter below with the red less intense. The 
adult male is nearly pure white below and pearl grey above, with black 
wing tips. In any plumage the Marsh Hawk can be recognized by its 
white rump which stands out conspicuously and forms a good field 
recognition mark, especially in juvenile red plumages. 
accipiters. 
The Accipiters are represented by three species. They vary in 
size from the Sharp-shinned, the smallest of our hawks, with body hardly 
larger than that of a robin, to the Goshawk, one of the largest and most 
powerful of the hawks. Normally they are woodland hunters and glide 
through the open bush, threading its mazes with speed mid certainty and 
taking their prey by hidden approach and sudden surprise, bur this 
purpose, which demands sudden bur 'Is ot peed and powerlul niaiueuvr- 
ing control, they have short rounded wings and long tails, giving an 
outline that taken with flight habits is quite charnel eristic. I hey lly 
with several quick wing beats and then a short sail and are seldom 
seen beating about the open, soaring in the air, or, except in migration, 
far from the vicinity of timbered areas. In spirit they are bold and 
aggressive and their, depredations are serious. 1 he two smaller species, 
the Sharp-shinned and Cooper's Hawks, subsist almost entirely on small 
birds, paying little if any attention to mice or rodents. The Goshawk 
takes larger birds and the larger rodents and other such mammals. These 
birds have done most to give the other raptores a bad name among 
poultry raisers and game conservators. The Sharp-shinned is limited by 
size to small birds and is only indirectly important, but the Goshawk is 
a confirmed chicken and grouse thief. Its strength, weight, and agility 
are sufficient to enable it to handle even well grown birds and it has the 
spirit and fearlessness to use its powers to the full. A Goshawk often 
makes a daily practice of approaching a particular chicken yard in the 
shelter of a barn, house, or tree clqmp and bearing off its prey before the 
surprised owner can interfere. The Cooper's Hawk, being smaller, 
cannot do as much harm, but the difference is one of degree only and little 
can be said in its favour. 
The Goshawk is of special interest to the game conservator, its 
normal range is along the northern limit of intense cultivation and its 
usual food is the rabbit or varying hare of the bush land. It is a well 
