V/a-r'/f 5 
*) 
S SfpL 
W oodpecker 
Hens killed 
by a Hawk 
( Cooper* s ) 
(probably larvae of wood borers) while I was watching it. 
The Hairy Woodpecker is a more alert, energetic and restless 
bird than the Downy and it is also more noisy. The c hick 
-p 
note is louder and repeated oftener. j 
While talking with Bensen I noticed some tufts of 
white $en*s feathers scattered about on the ground within 
a few yards of his shed. He told me that something had 
killed a hen there about 4 days ago and had taken it away. 
The next day more feathers found near the bars below the 
barn and another hen missing. Yesterday morning a "very 
large gray Hawk" appeared and pounced on a hen near some 
bushes about 50 yards west of the barn. Before Bensen could 
gest to the spot, the hawk had killed the hen and "eaten 
her head off". Bensen drove a peg in the ground and, tying 
the hen to it, set a steel trap on her body. He said it 
had not been disturbed but when he took me to the spot 
we found the trap sprung and the hen and peg gone. The 
jaws of the trap, showed no trace of feathers or hair. 
The only Hawk (besides Marsh Hawks) which I have 
seen near this farm of late is a male Cooper* s which 
haunts the pines above my glacial hollow where I think he 
intends breeding. He scaled into these pines this after¬ 
noon as I was passing, uttering a succession of the mewing, 
jay-like cries which I have recently described. Can he 
be the robber? He might perhaps kill a full-grown hen but 
surely he could not carry one offl 
31 
