Only when I
reached the nest would the female leave it, and then she withdrew but a
short distance, returning as soon as I began to descend. The devotion of
these wild creatures to their young is often marvellous. Mr. Audubon
describes this hawk as 'spiritless, inactive, and so deficient in courage
that he is often chased by the little sparrow-hawk and kingbird.' Another
naturalist dissents emphatically from this view, and regards the
broad-winged as the most courageous and spirited of his family, citing an
instance of a man in his employ who, while ascending to a nest, was
assailed with great fury. His hat was torn from his head, and he would
have been injured had not the bird been shot. He also gives another
example of courage in an attack by this hawk upon a boy seeking to rob
its nest. It fastened its talons in his arm, and could not be beaten off
until it was killed. Perhaps both naturalists are right. It is brave and
fierce when its home is disturbed, and lacks the courage to attack other
birds of its own kind. At any rate, it has no hesitancy in making
hawk-love to chickens and ducklings, but as a rule subsists on insects
and small quardrupeds. It is not a very common winter resident, but early
in March it begins to come northward in flocks.
"Next to the broad-winged, the sharp-shinned is our most abundant hawk,
and is found throughout the entire continent from Hudson Bay to Mexico. It
usually builds its nest in trees, and occasionally on ledges of rocks,
and as a general thing takes some pains in its construction.
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