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Birds and Nature, Vol. XI, No 2, February 1902

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<h2 id="c11">THE BROAD-WINGED HAWK. (Buteo latissimus.)</h2> <div class="verse"> And up through the rifled tree-tops That signaled the wayward breeze I saw the hulk of the hawk becalmed Far out on the azure seas. —James Whitcomb Riley, “A Vision of Summer.” </div> The Broad-winged Hawk has a wide range, including the whole of North America, east of the great plains and extending from New Brunswick and the Saskatchewan region on the north to Northern South America on the south. It nests throughout its range within the borders of the United States. Its confidence in man is not surpassed by that of any other hawk. Dr. Fisher says that “of all our hawks this species seems to be the most unsuspicious, often allowing a person to approach within a few yards of it, and when startled flies but a short distance before it alights again.” As a rule it is a very quiet bird, but during the nesting period it is fully as noisy and demonstrative as are many of the other hawks. If disturbed while on its nest its shrill call notes will soon attract its mate, when both will continue noisily complaining till the intruder retreats. Though solicitous for their eggs or young, they will never attack a person. It is said that “for days after they have been robbed these birds will utter their complaints when anyone approaches their homes.” They are good parents, both sexes assisting in the care of the eggs and young. Not infrequently this Hawk will sit for hours on the dead top of a tall tree at the edge of a forest, and with its body erect and motionless will often seem almost a part of the tree. Its food is usually procured on the ground, and it is near the ground or among the denser growths of the forest, where it may find insect larvæ, that it is more often seen. The Broad-winged Hawk may truthfully be called a friend of the agriculturist, for it seldom feeds on bird life of any kind, but rather upon mice and other rodents, toads, frogs and insects. Dr. Fisher, in his valuable work, “The Hawks and Owls of the United States,” says: “The only act of the Broad-winged Hawk which seems injurious to agriculture is the killing of toads and small snakes, the former of which are exclusively insect eaters, the latter very largely so. In one respect its enormous value ranks above all other birds, and that is in the destruction of immense numbers of injurious larvæ of large moths, which most birds are either unable or disinclined to cope with.” In the examination of stomachs of sixty-five of these Hawks Dr. Fisher obtained the following results: Two contained small birds; fifteen contained mice and thirteen other mammals; in eleven the remains of reptiles, and in thirteen batrachians were found; thirty contained the remains of insects, two earthworms, four crawfish and seven were empty. The results were surely in favor of the bird. Well may the farmer listen to the words of Alexander Wilson: <div class="verse"> “Kill not thy friend, who thy whole harvest shields, And sweeps ten thousand vermin from thy fields.” </div> The poultry yard is safe from the depredations of these quiet birds, which, though sluggish and heavy in flight, can move with great rapidity and soar high in the air if they so desire. Even the small birds in the woods seem to consider them to be harmless, for they give them but little attention. When this bird does 72 attack small birds it is either, as a rule, when they are very young or injured in some manner. Its nest is usually made of sticks and twigs and lined with soft fibrous strips of bark, leaves and feathers that fall from the breasts of the setting birds. The nests are placed in either evergreen or deciduous trees, and seldom more than thirty or forty feet from the ground. They are frequently much lower and occasionally in the tops of very tall trees. They have been known to use the deserted nests of other birds, especially that of the crow, which is nearly as large as their own structure. Dr. Fisher says that one of its notes quite closely resembles that of the wood pewee. Another writer says that “their call note is a peevish ‘chee-e-e-e,’ prolonged at pleasure and uttered in a high key. However, to fully appreciate their shrill note of complaint it must be heard.” <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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