Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1896-08-25
az@ALE OF THE HAWKS.
Fight for the Possession
An AnnuI of an Old Tree.

l,...SNNio- have been twisted off by
6ranch4fh A and its trunk has been
One led full of holes by woodpeckers
,khd sapsuckSrs.
For ID years fish hawks have built
o nest in the crotch of the veteran
and reared their young, aud the sec
ond week in May, as regularly as the
month comes around, there is a
pitched battle between the cid hawks
and their young for possession Of the
nest.
The Battle OF the Hawks" is an
exciting feature in the lives of
Sukesville people, who keep watch of
the nest until the fighting forces put
in an appearance, and then the men,
women and children Of the town,
which has population Of something
like 100 souls, flock to the fields near
the old tree and enjoy the aerial
scrap" to its finish.
The birds go about the fight with
the shrewdness of trained warriors,
and they battle with the ferccness
of savages. For two or three DAYS
the young ones come in from the
surrounding pineries and camp, as it
were until their number is sufficient
ly large to warrant an attack on the
two vicious old birds that are in pos
session of the nest.
Men who have watched these bat
ties year after year for ten years say
that the old hawks have never yet
been worsted Sometimes they are
little short of feathers when the
scrimmage is over, but they manage
to hold the nest, and if their assail-
ants get off without leaving dozen
dead on the field they are fortunate.
This year the battle was unusually
fierce and one of the old hawks
was so badly damaged that it fell to
the ground, and Bart Hebron, who
has a strong affection for the old
birds, took it home and carefully
nursed it until it was able to fly,
when he set it loose and it returned
to the nest as clipper as ever.
This year the young hawks were
three days getting ready for the as
sault. They, apparently, we're de-
termined to win and held off until
they numbered between 40 and 80.
During the day they circled around
the tree high enough above it to en-
able them to get a clear view of the
nest inside and out, evidently taking
note of its weak points.
While this was going on the old
hawks quietly watched the maneu-
vers of their enemies, one of them
sitting on the end Of a broken limb,
the other standing on the edge of
the nest.
One morning the attacking party
formed a circle in the air above the
nest and, at the cry of one that APP
peared to be the leader, every bird
shot towards the nest like an az
row. When they came together
there was a wild tumble Of feathers
and sticks, and the birds snarled like
a lot Of mad puppies. They quickly
rose into the air and when the dust
cloud that had been beaten out OF
the nest cleared up the two old
hawks were seen viciously yanking
the feathers out of an unfortunate
enemy that had fallen into their
clutches.
It was the evident intention Of the
young hawks to tear the nest apart,
and they swooped down on it repeat
edly, but it was strongly built OF
interlaced sticks cemented together
with clay that had been baking in
the sun for years, and they made but
little impression upon it. At each
attack the old hawks managed to
gather in one of their assailauts and
made short work of him.
All day this form of battle was
kept up, and still the old birds were
apparently as fresh as at the start.
At shutdown hostilities were sus-
pSLlNCNl' nc ASAU UIlA ~
and early, the young hawks gathered
in a mass over the tree and, at u
squeal from the leader, let fall a
shower of stones that they carried III
their talons.
One of these fell on the back OF the
hawk in the nest and hurt it so that
it couldn't fight with as much vim as
before. A half dozen times the young
hawks resorted to this trick, but
only hit the nest once.
In the middle of the forenoon OF
the second day the two old hawks
sailed forth and mixed up with their
assaiants in a hand-to-hand battle.
Feathers few and screams filed the
air. Occasionally a young bird fell
to the ground dead or dying, and
finally one of the old hawks came
tumbling down with one wing help
less.
For an hoifr The batfla rat,ed and