414 



ZOOLOGY BIRDS. 



1874, 67, 91, 137. ALLEN, Proc. Bost, Soc. Nat. Hist., June, 1874, 1C, 34. 

 COUES, Birds Northwest, 1874, 349. BD., BREW., & RIDG., N. A. Birds, 

 iii, 1874, 349. 

 (Tinnunculus) sparverius, COUES, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 18C6, 42 (Fort 



Whipple, Ariz.). 



TinmiHculus sparverius, WOODH., Sitgreave's Exp. Zulii & Col. Riv., 1854, GO. NEWB., 

 P. R. R. Rep., vi, 1857, 74. BD., U. S. & Mex. Bound. Surv., li, pt. ii, 1857, 

 12. XANTUS, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1859, 190 (Fort Tejon, Gal.). 

 BD., Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1859, 302 (Cape Saint Lucas). KEN- 

 NEELY, P. B. R. Rep., Whipple's Route, 1859, 19. HEERM., P. R. R. Rep., 

 x. pt. iv, 1859, 31. QAYD., Trans. Am. Phil. Soc., xii, 1862, 152. STEV., U. 

 S. Geol. Surv. Terr., 1870, 462. SNOW, Birds Kan., 1872, 3. MERRIAM, 

 U. S. Geol. Surv. Terr., 1872, 696. 



This little falcon is the most numerous of all his tribe throughout the 

 West, and ranges over the country at will, from the plains up along the 

 mountains to an altitude of 10,000 feet, below which it is common. In 

 summer, its mode of nesting, in the hollows of trees, confines it to the 

 vicinity of timber, and on the lowlands it is never found far away from 

 the streams, where it finds opportunities for nidification, and an abundant 

 supply of game in the shape of the small insectivorous birds ; but more 

 especially does its food consist of the various kinds of coleopterous insects 

 and grasshoppers, of which it destroys multitudes. In fact, this last item 

 is the most important one of all, and where these insects are abundant I have 

 never seen them have recourse to any other kind of food. 



