84 THE BIRDS OF NEW JERSEY. 



contained poultry and game birds, 51 other birds, 2T8 

 mice, 131 other mammals, 27 reptiles, 47 insects, 8 craw- 

 fish, 1 centipede, 13 offal, 89 were empty. 



Hawk^ Sharp-shinned. — This bird at all stages is 

 like the Cooper's Hawk in plumage, and is, in fact, a 

 miniature of it. The sexes are alike in color. The nest 

 is built in trees from fifteen to forty feet from the 

 ground, but occasionally on a rocky ledge. It is built of 

 sticks as a foundation for an upper story of bark, leaves 

 and moss. Mating begins in April. The eggs are from 

 three to six in number, one and a half by one and one- 

 fifth inches in size, of a bluish white to a pale cream 

 buff, spotted and at times washed with chocolate, occa- 

 sionally with a wreath of chocolate blotches at the large 

 end. 



The bird breeds over the whole of the United States, 

 and occurs at all seasons in New Jersey, going also as far 

 south as Guatemala in winter. 



The Sharp-shinned Hawk is very destructive to our 

 smaller birds and has but few redeeming features. Gov- 

 ernment analysis of 48 stomachs showed that 2 contained 

 poultry and game birds, 35 other birds, 4 mice, 2 insects, 

 10 were empty. Examination of 159 stomachs showed 

 that contained poultry and game birds, 99 otiier birds, 

 mice, 5 insects, 52 were empty. 



Mawk^ Sparrow. — Length, ten inches; extent, twenty 

 inches; female about an inch longer; head, blue gray with 

 a central patch of rusty; side of face white, with three 

 vertical black bars, one from the base of the bill, one 

 across the ear, and one on the neck; whole back and sides 

 of the neck rusty red, with a few transverse black marks 

 on the center of the back; wings gray, long feathers 

 black on the outer webs, black and white on the inner; 

 tail with the two outer feathers barred black and white, 

 others mainly rusty, all with a terminal black band and a 



