190 Birds of Colorado 



dark shaft-line and a tawny to whitish edging ; tail with five dark and 

 five narrower white bands, the terminal band of black tipped with 

 white ; below white, faintly washed with ochraceous and streaked 

 with brown, except on the throat. 



Distribution. — Western North America from southern British Colum- 

 bia and the Saskatchewan south to the Mexican border, east to the 

 Jlississippi, west to the Pacific. 



In Colorado this subspecies appears to be a resident, having been met 

 with in both winter and summer, though no authenticated instance 

 of its nesting is known. It probably nests in the mountains and 

 winters in the plains, but it is quite a rare bird and doubtless has 

 been frequently confused with the Pigeon-Hawk. 



The only definite local records are : Silver Lake, Boulder co, 10,000 

 feet, September (Henderson), Berthoud's Pass (Ridgway), Barr Lake 

 (Horsey & Rockwell), El Paso co., January, November (Aiken coll.), 

 Wet Mountains at 8,000 feet (Lowe). 



Habits. — So far as is known, this little Falcon in no 

 way differs from the Pigeon-Hawk in its habits. 



American Sparrow- Hawk. Falco sparverius. 



A.O.U. Checkhst no 360— Colorado Records— Baird 54, p. 12 ; 58, 

 p. 13 ; Allen 72, pp. 152, 159 ; Henshaw 75, p. 413 ; Scott 79, p. 96 

 Tresz 81, p. 187 ; Drew 81, p. 141 ; 85, p. 17 ; Allen & Brewster 83 

 p. 197; Beckham 85, p. 143 ; 87, p. 124; Morrison 88, p. 115 ; 89, p. 65 

 Kellogg 90, p. 87 ; Bendire 92, p. 309 ; Lowe 92, p. 101 ; 94, p. 268 

 04, p. 276; Cooke 97, pp. 18,76,204 ; Henderson 03, p. 235 ; 09, p. 230 

 Dille 03, p. 74 ; Warren 06, p. 20 ; 08, p. 21 ; Oilman 07, p. 154 

 Markman 07, p. 156 ; Hersey & Rockwell 09, p. 117. 



Description. — Male — Centre of the crown, back, scapulars and tail- 

 feathers, except the outermost, rich rufous, the back with a few trans- 

 verse bars of black ; a ring round the crown and the wing, except the 

 primaries, slaty-blue, the latter with black spots ; nape pale rufous, 

 with a black central patch and three others paired on either side of the 

 face ; primaries black, with white indentations on the inner web ; tail 

 with a broad, black terminal band tipped with white, outer pair of tail- 

 feathers chiefly white, barred with black ; below white, washed with 

 tawny on the chest and with a few small dusky spots chiefly on the 

 flanks ; iris brown, bill bluish-horn, cere and legs yellow. Length 

 10'5 ; wing 7-4 ; tail 5-0 ; culmen -6 ; tarsus 1-45. 



The female has the whole back, tail and wings transversely barred 

 with rufous and dusky ; the indentations on the primaries are tinged 

 with tawny, and the lower parts white, streaked with pale sopia-brown 



