Hawking. 
BY J. M. W., NORWICII, CONN. 
In these degenerate days the falconer does not 
go afield to fly his belled and hooded peregrine, 
but with a pair of trusty climbing-irons he him- 
self mounts into the air, and base-born Buteo or 
true Falcon are alike to him in his quest. Though 
not counting it an advance on the kingly diver- 
sion, yet the modern hawker takes a keen pleasure 
in spurring his way up the straight bole of, a 
chestnut, with borealis screaming overhead and a 
fresh clutch of eggs for his quarry. You who 
have tried this royal sport of an April morning, 
will go again another year, and the present writer 
can then be pardoned for recording his experience 
in old fields in successive years. 
It has been shown that a late season does not 
delay the early breeding Raptores. This year 
Great-horned Owls laid their first egg Feb. 22; 
my earliest set of Barred Owl was taken March 
26, and first Red- shouldered Hawk, April 9. May 
10, took six sets of Cooper, and May 17, three sets 
of Marsh Hawks. So, though the arrival and 
breeding of Warblers and other small migrants 
was delayed from seven to ten days, yet the nest- 
ing of Owls and Hawks is on the average dates 
of former records. 
I have taken three sets each from one Barred 
Owl and one Cooper’s Hawk this year, and three 
sets from one Marsh Hawk last year. B. borealis 
does not so often lay two sets as lineatus , and with 
our Bubo the limit is usually two sets. 1885 bids 
fair to be a time for big sets, as I have taken four 
sets of Red-sliouldered Hawks of four eggs each, 
one set of six Coopers, and have climbed to three 
Crow’s nests holding clutches of six. In early 
April, I left some homely incubated sets of Red- 
tails to hatch, but am inclined to think this was a 
mistaken mercy, for when the lusty young 
clamor for food, the farmers are liable to follow 
the over bold purveyors to the nest and shoot 
both young and old birds. There are in my pos- 
session a number of old bullets, buckshot and 
leaden slugs which I have dug out from the base 
of limbs forming the crotch of a tree which has 
been the cradle for generations of Hawks. This 
murderous brush-house artifice is another depar- 
ture from the falconry of old. 
All my Harrier sets were plain and had the 
anomaly peculiar to this species and Cuckoos of 
fresh and incubated eggs in the same clutch. 
Two pairs of lineatus lived in last year’s Cooper's 
nests, and other nests of last season were laid 
under tribute for dozens of eggs. One set of j 
Cooper’s with shell twice the usual thickness, in | 
addition to markings, presented long calcareous 
ridges similar in nature to the pimples common 
on eggs of the Barred Owd. There appears to be 
no local race of Sparrow Hawks around Norwich, 
but we may have more than our share of Barred 
Owls, for I know the nesting places of seven 
pairs. March 26, April 18, and May 9, were the 
dates for the three sets from one Barred Owl this 
year. I have explored Lantern Hill, in Ledyard, 
and Mt. Misery, in Voluntown, and heavy tracts 
of isolated timber, but find no trace or tradition of 
Duck Hawks ever breeding in this region. The 
Osprey’s immense summer homes are still com- 
mon along shore and in several swamps here- 
abouts more than a dozen miles from the Sound. 
Of the thirty well feathered Hawk’s nests re- 
corded this year, many were in low crotches and 
re-touched Crow’s nests, still the average height of 
the nests of B. borealis last April, by actual meas- 
urement, was fifty-one feet. The customary sea- 
son’s take of one hundred eggs was easily reached, 
with the smaller Accipiter to hear from, and in 
this connection it is interesting to note why the 
bulk of the early-breeding Hawks have compara- 
tive immunity from the farmers. The Buteos be- 
gin housekeeping just as the chopper takes his ax 
and sled out of the woods; and the ploughing and 
planting with their train of duties come on so fast 
that our rural friend can spare but an occasional 
Sunday morning for his amateur Falconry. 
, Q .feO. X, June. 1885. p iff. 
of the Cooper’ s Hawk, (A. cooperi ,) from 
unequivocal Crow’s nests, in the same 
piece of woods. 
O.&o. IX. Nov. 1884. p. / 3h~ 
A PhiladelphiaCollection of Eggsof 
the Raptores. 
Accipiter cooperi. Cooper’s Hawk. One set 
of six, three sets of five, eleven sets of four, one 
| set of three, two sets of two. Total : eighteen 
sets, seventy-two eggs. 
O.&O. XIV. Mar. 1889 p .45 
Some of my Best Finds to June 8. 1892. 
A.E. Kibbe, 
May 23 . Set of five Cooper’s Hawk 
from a beech tree 65 feet from ground. 
O.& O Vol.17, Sept. 1892 p.133 
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