A History of North American Birds; Land Birds; Vol. 3 of 3Baird, Spencer Fullerton
Science
A History of North American Birds; Land Birds; Vol. 3 of 3
Baird, Spencer Fullerton
Birds -- North America
HABITS. The dreaded Blue Hen Hawk, as our Goshawk is usually called in
New England, is a bird of somewhat irregular occurrence south of the
44th parallel. It occurs in the vicinity of Boston from November to
March, but is never very common. In other parts of the State it is at
times not uncommon at this season. It is common throughout Nova Scotia,
New Brunswick, and Northern Maine, and may undoubtedly be found breeding
in the northern portions of New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York. In the
summer of 1872, Mr. George Baxter, of Danville, Vt., procured a nest
containing three young birds, which were sent to the New York Central
Park. Mr. Downes speaks of it as “far too common” in the vicinity of
Halifax, where it is very destructive to Ducks, Pigeons, and poultry.
Mr. Boardman gives it as common near Calais, where it breeds, and where
he has taken its eggs. Mr. Verrill mentions it as resident in Western
Maine, where it is one of the most common Hawks. Mr. Allen found it
usually rare near Springfield, but remarkably common during the winter
of 1859–60. He afterwards mentions that since then, and for the last ten
winters, he has known them to be quite common during several seasons.
Mr. C. J. Maynard is confident that this species occasionally breed
in Massachusetts. He once observed a pair at a locality in Weston,
until the latter part of May. It was found breeding in Iowa by Mr.
S. N. Marston. Mr. Victor Brooke records in the Ibis, 1870, p. 538, the
occurrence, in Ireland, of an example of this species. It was shot in
the Galtee Mountains, in February, 1870. The bird was a mature female,
with the ovary somewhat enlarged. The stomach contained the remains of a
rabbit.
On the Pacific coast it is comparatively rare in California, though much
more abundant farther north, in Oregon and in Washington Territory.
Dr. Cooper noticed several in the dense spruce forests of Washington
Territory, and regarded it as a special frequenter of dark woods, where
other Hawks are rarely seen. Dr. Suckley also obtained several specimens
of this bird both at Fort Dalles and at Fort Steilacoom.
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