236 BIRDS OF NEW ENGLAND AND EASTERN NEW YORK 



The Fish Hawk is a local summer resident of New York 

 and New England, breeding near the coast or on large inland 

 rivers and lakes. There are colonies in northern New Jer- 

 sey, on Long Island, and on Narragansett Bay ; in Maine 

 it breeds both on the coast and in the interior. In the rest 

 of New York and New England it is a rather common 

 migrant, both on the coast and inland, in April and May, 

 and in September and October. Its habit of plunging into 

 the water from a height is, of course, characteristic. When 

 not fishing, its great extent of wing, and its white head and 

 under parts distinguish it. 



American Sparrow Hawk. Falco sparverius 

 $ 9.50. 9 10.75 



Ad. $ . — Upper parts conspicuously reddish-brown • head, when 

 seen near to, slate-blue, with a large reddish-brown spot; throat 

 and cheeks white, a black mark from in front of the eye along 

 the side of the throat, another from back of the eye; wings 

 slate-blue; tail tipped with black; large black spots on belly and 

 side. Ad. 9- — Very similar, but with more reddish-brown on 

 the wings; no black band across tip of tail. 



Nest, in a hole in a tree, or in a tower. Eggs, varying from 

 white, with few markings, to deep buff, more or less speckled 

 with brown. 



The Sparrow Hawk is a summer resident of New York 

 and New England ; it is nowhere common, and in the up- 

 land of northern New England it does not occur. It is a 

 common spring and fall migrant along the coast, and an 

 occasional winter visitant from eastern Massachusetts south- 

 ward. It frequents extensive meadows, where a few tall 

 trees here and there furnish it with posts of observation 

 and a breeding-site in some dead limb. It often hovers over 

 the grass, with tail broadly spread, the wings rapidly vibrat- 

 ing forward of the almost perpendicular body. Just after 

 alighting the tail is tilted once or twice. During the court- 



