84 G. II. Merriam — Bird* of Connecticut. 



certain that they breed there at all, though their occurrence in early 

 summer certainly looks like it. I have seen it, in the vicinity of New 

 Haven, in April, and again in August and September, and now have 

 notes of its presence in this State in every month of the year. In 

 one of his interesting articles on the " Game Falcons of New Eng- 

 land," Dr. Wood writes: "In May, 1860, a gentleman who resides 

 some five miles distant, informed me that a small Hawk came almost 

 every day and cai'ried off a chicken for him — that it never missed, 

 for it went so like lightning that there was no escaping its grasp. 

 He said that it always came in the same direction from a tract of 

 woods near his house Accompanied by my friend, we care- 

 fully searched the woods without finding anything except the nest of 

 the Red-shouldered Hawk. The next day the same little Hawk re- 

 turned and was shot, and is now in my collection, a beautiful repre- 

 sentative of the Pigeon Hawk. I have no doubt that it had a 

 nest about there, as it was the season for nesting, and it always came 

 from, and went to, the same piece of woods, and in the same direc 

 tion. If it had not young it must have been carrying food to its 

 mate while incubating. If a mere straggler it would come and go 

 without any definite place of resort. Our inability to find the nest 

 was not strange, as there were some sixty or eighty acres of heavy- 

 timbered oaks and pines in the tract."* Mr. Geo. A. Boardman 

 states that it " breeds in hollow trees,"f which would, of course, 

 render its nest still more difficult to find. I am strongly inclined to 

 believe that a few pairs do occasionally breed in Connecticut, for, 

 though its nest has not yet been actually discovered, the fact that 

 the birds are sometimes found here throughout the entire year is 

 strong evidence that they breed, and mere negative evidence, in such 

 cases, amounts to little or nothing. 



162. Falco sparverius Linne. Sparrow Hawk. 



A rather rare resident ; only a few pairs breed within the State, 

 and it is seldom seen in winter. Mr. W. W. Coe tells me that it 

 breeds near Portland, Conn., and I am informed by Dr. Wood that 

 it sometimes breeds in the vicinity of East Windsor Hill. 



Dr. Wood thus describes a novel site for a nest of this Hawk 

 which was found at Granby, Conn. : " A farmer made a dove house 

 inside of his barn with holes through the sides of the building com- 



* Am. Nat., vol. vii, No. 6, pp. 342-3, June, 1873. 



\ Proceed. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. ix, p. 122, Sept., 1862. 



