248 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 
The owls, like many other birds of prey, eject from the mouth, 
in small ball-like masses, the indigestible portions of their food, such 
as hair, bones, ete. These little balls or pellets are frequently to 
be found in great quantities about localities where these birds 
resort during the daytime. The eggs are white, nearly round, and 
commonly number from three to five. The owls deposit their eggs 
generally in hollow trees or the deserted nests of hawks and crows. 
Their cries are loud and dismal. 
The two species of hawks which are mainly responsible for the 
bad name which hawks in general have, are the Cooper’s and Sharp- 
shinned. These two species are common and known by different 
local names throughout the State. The Sharp-shinned Hawk is 
sin! and much of his destructive work in the poultry yard and to 
game and smal! wild birds is frequently wrongfully attributed to the 
beautiful and serviceable Sparrow Hawk and other species. 
SHARP-SHINNED HAWK’ (Accipiter’ velom.) * 
This extremely daring and spirited little hawk is one of the most 
abundant of our North American species. It is found in Pennsyl- 
vania as a resident, but during the spring and fall migrations— 
March, April, September and October—it is much more plentiful 
than at other periods. The nests in this locality, according to my 
experience, are mostly built in low trees and are made up almost en- 
tirely of small twigs. The eggs, mostly five in number, are nearly 
spherical, white or bluish white, marked with large and irregular 
splashes or blotches of brown, and measure about 1.46 by 1.16 
inches. This hawk occasionally feeds upon insects, mice and rep- 
tiles, but the greater portion of its food consists of wild birds and 
poultry, particularly young poultry. When a pair of Sharp-shinnned 
or Cooper’s Hawks nest in the neighborhood of a farm, where 
young chickens can readily be captured, they, if not speedily killed, 
will visit the place almost daily until the young chicks have all heen 
destroyed, and if the hawks are not molested after a few visits to 
the coops, they seem to become more bold and daring every day. 
Nuttall, writing of the Sharp-shinned Hawk, says; “In thinly settled 
districts this hawk seems to abound and proves extremely destruct- 
ive to young chickens, a single bird having been known regularly 
to come every day until he had carried away between twenty and 
thirty.” The same writer says he was one day conversing with a 
planter, when one of these hawks came down and without any cere- 
mony or heeding the loud cries of the housewife, who most reluct- 
antly witnessed the robbery, snatched away a chicken directly 
before them. . 
This hawk does not by any means devote his attention exclusively 
to young poultry when he comes about the farm yard, but often may 
