COOPER HAWK
333. Accipiter cooperi. 16 in.
This hawk is a large edition of the last species. All hawks vary in size, this one and the last, perhaps, more than any others. Female hawks are always the largest. A large female of the [Sharp-shinned variety], is often as large as a small male Cooper, but the crown of the Cooper is darker than that of the Sharp-shinned, and his tail is always rounded, while that of the last species is nearly square at the end. This is also a destructive species; it is usually one of these two hawks, or the [Goshawk], that is responsible for the ill-feeling with which farmers regard all of the family. All small hawks are known to farmers as “Chicken Hawks,” and large ones as “Hen Hawks,” but the majority of our hawks rarely disturb fowls.
Nest.—Of sticks in crotches of trees, usually quite high up; often old crows’ nests are used; eggs bluish-white, unmarked or very faintly specked with brown. (1.90 × 1.45); April.
Range.—Breeds from the Gulf north to southern Canada; winters from Mass. and Oregon southward.
