BLACK-SHOULDERED HA'WR. 
71 
at once that it was one of the birds which you had desired me to procure for 
you, and went to the house for my gun. On returning I saw the Hawk very 
high in the air, sailing beautifully over a large wet meadow, where many 
Common Snipes were feeding. It would now and then poise itself for a 
while, in the manner of our Little Sparrow Hawk, and suddenly closing its 
wings plunge towards its prey with great velocity, making a rumbling noise 
as it passed through the air. Now and then, when abouthalf way, it suddenly 
checked its descent, recommenced hovering, and at last marking its prey, 
rushed upon it and secured it. Its cries, on being wounded, so much resem- 
bled those of the Mississippi Kite, that I thought, as I was going to pick it 
up, that I had only got one of that species. It was so shy that I was obliged 
to get on horseback before I could approach it within gun shot.” 
Mr. H. Ward, who accompanied me on my expedition to the Floridas, 
found this species breeding on the.plantation of Alexander Mayzck, Esq., 
on the Santee River, early in the month of March, and shot three, two of 
which, a male and female, are now in my possession. Their nests were 
placed on low trees near the margins of the river, and resembled those of the 
American Crow, but had none of the substantial lining of that bird’s nest. 
Mr. Ward states, that at this time they were seen flying over the cane 
brakes in pursuit of large insects, somewhat in the manner of the Mississippi 
Kite, and that they were very shy. 
My friend John Bachman has seen this species fly in groups, at a very 
great height, in the beginning of March, and thinks that it is only of late 
years that they have located themselves in South Carolina, where, however, 
five of them have been procured in one year. 
The Black-shouldered Hawk appears to give a decided preference to low 
lands, not distant from the shores of the Atlantic. On our way toward the 
Texas, several of these birds were seen over the large marshes, flying at a 
small elevation, and coursing in search of prey, much in the manner of the 
Hen-harrier or Marsh Hawk, but all evidently bent on proceeding to the 
eastward. Whether this species winters there or not, I am unable to say, 
but that some remain all the year in Florida, and even in South Carolina, I 
am quite confident. 
The difference between the food of this species and that of the Mississippi 
Kite is surprising to me. I have never seen the latter seize any bird, whereas 
the Black-shouldered Hawk certainly does so, as in the stomachs of two 
individuals which I examined were remains of birds as Well as of coleopterous 
insects. These two birds agree nearly with the description of the one pro- 
cured by Mr. Titian Peai.e, excepting in the length of the wings, wnich 
in them and in several others that have come under my notice, have their 
tips fully an inch shorter than the end of the tail. A breeding female differed 
