File:Birds of village and field- a bird book for beginners (1898) (14755360225).jpg

Identifier: birdsofvillagefi00bail (find matches)
Title: Birds of village and field: a bird book for beginners
Year: 1898 (1890s)
Authors: Bailey, Florence Merriam, b. 1863
Subjects: Birds
Publisher: Boston, New York, Houghton, Mifflin and company
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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neof our commonest birds of prey. Fortunately itis so small that it does little harm in the poultry-yard except in carrying off very small chickens.Doctor Fisher says that its food is made upalmost entirely of wild birds and young poultry;96 per cent, of the contents of the stomachs ex-amined consisted alone of birds. However, as thedoctor says, when a pair of the Hawks find afarm where young chickens are easily obtained,they devote themselves to the family until thereis no family left, or they themselves meet with atragic death. The one redeeming quality of the Sharp-shinned is its fondness for House Sj^arrows.Doctor Fisher tells us that in winter it even visitstowns and cities for them, being not uncommonin Central Park and the larger parks of Wash-ington. Doctor Ralph finds that its numbers are notdecreasing as rapidly as those of other Hawks,and attributes it to the retiring habits of theSharp-shinned, as well as their quick movements,which make it difficult to shoot them. They do
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Plate XV.-SHARP-SHINNED HAWK Adults, end of tail square ; upper parts and tail slaty ; tail bandedwith black ; throat white, streaked with blackish ; rest of underparts barred with white and reddish brown. Young, similar,but under parts white, streaked with brown or black. Length,male, 11,1 inches; female, 13* inches. COOPERS HAWK 269 not, he says, circle through the air in search offood, but skulk around in thick trees and bushes,and pounce on their prey when least expected.When they seize a bird or mammal, no matterhow small it may be, they always fly at once tothe ground with it. When they wish to carrytheir prey to any distance, they do it by shortflights just above the ground. They have a pe-culiar habit of stretching out their legs as far asthey can, as soon as they seize their quarry, as ifthey were afraid of what they had caught. The nests of the Sharp-shinned are very largefor the size of the bird, and are in trees, fromfifteen to forty feet from the ground. The eggsvary from

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