BIRDS OF KANSAS. 289 



These little beauties are not as active or destructive as others 

 of the Falcon tribe. Their flights are usually short and irregu- 

 lar, darting here and there, often hovering in a suspended man- 

 ner for several moments at a time. During the summer months 

 they occasionally kill the little birds, but feed chiefly upon mice, 

 lizards, grasshoppers, crickets, etc., as they are so much easier 

 to capture than the full-grown birds, and to which tliey rarely 

 turn their attention, until the cold weather drives the other forms 

 of life, upon which they so largely feed, into their winter beds. 

 The bird that suffers most outside of the Horned Larks and 

 Longspurs, is the Tree Sparrow, as it prefers the hedges and 

 sniall thickets upon the prairies, instead of the wooded lands, 

 for its sheltered horne; its food in all such cases being upon the 

 open lands, and whenever there is any snow upon the ground, 

 it drifts against the hedges, and forces the little birds to seek 

 the bare spots, quite a distance away, for the seeds on or fallen 

 from the weeds. Here it is that the Hawks successfully get in 

 their work, by darting from a perch and striking the Sparrow, 

 either upon the ground or before it can reach its hiding place. 



Their nests are placed in large Woodpecker holes, and natu- 

 ral cavities in trees, usually without lining; occasionally a few 

 leaves or mosses. Eggs four to six, 1.33x1.12; buffy white, 

 speckled, spotted and blotched with light and dark brown — the 

 markings vary greatly in size and number, often confluent, and 

 so thick around the larger end as to obscure the ground color; 

 in form, rounded oval. 



Subfamily PANDIONIN^. Ospreys. 

 "Outer toe reversible, aud plumage -without aftershafts." 



Genus PANDION Savigny. 

 "Bill inflated, the cere depressed below the arched culmen; end of bill much 

 developed, forming a strong, pendent hook. Anterior edge of nostril touching 

 edge of cere. Whole of tarsus and toes (except terminal joint) covered with 

 rough, somewhat imbricated, projecting scales. Outer toe versatile; all the 

 claws of equal length. In their shape also they are peculiar; they contract in 

 thickness to their lower side, where they are much narrower than on top, as 

 well as perfectly smooth aud rounded; the middle claw has the usual sharp lat- 

 eral ridge, but it is not very distinct. All the toes perfectly free. Tibiae not 



plumed, but covei'ed compactly with short feathers, these reaching down the 

 —19 



