CONCORD 
1906 
April 26 
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Our Phoebe had another and still narrower escape 
from the talons of a Hawk this morning. Just as I stepped 
out from the side door, I heard his sharp tchip , tchip . 
of alarm and then saw him coming from the orchard with the 
Hawk about fifteen feet behind him. The two birds seemed 
to merge into one as they reached an elm in the lane, but 
the Phoebe made a sudden turn among the thickly growing 
branches and crossed the door-yard in safety. The Hawk 
stopped in the elm and alighted there, low down, when I 
saw that it was a large female Sharp-shin. After resting 
there about a minute, it flew off over the river and then 
began soaring in circles, rising-higher and higher until 
it looked no larger than a Swallow, when it drifted out of 
#• 
sight towards the south. During its ascent it did not 
once flap its wings. Its circling was performed exactly 
like that of the Cooper’s Hawk seen on the 17th. When 
flying straight away from the elm, it alternately flapped 
and scaled for a distance of about 100 yards. A Sharp- 
shin may be readily distinguished from a Cooper’s Hawk 
when flying in this manner, for it moves less swiftly 
and its course is seldom perfectly straight. Its flight 
is more buoyant and erratic and gives one less the im¬ 
pression of momentum. The wings are beaten less often 
and also less rapidly and continuously. Nevertheless, 
it is by no means easy to distinguish the female Sharp- 
shin from the male Cooper's Hawk, unless one has had long 
experience. 
