Sparrow Hawk BIRDS OF PREY. 



American Sparrow Hawk: Falco sparverius* 



Plate 59. 



Length: 10-11 inches, sexes the same size. 



Male and Female : Above reddish, with or without black bars and 

 spots. Top of head bluish slate with a red patch. Below 

 varying from whitish to dark reddish, with or without black 

 spots. Wings narrow and pointed. Female has dusky bars on 

 back, wings, and tail. Bill dark ; feet deep yellow. 



Season : Rare resident. 



Breeds : From Florida to Hudson's Bay. 



Nest : Lays in hollow trees, old Woodpecker holes, and sometimes in 

 Dove cots. 



Eggs : Variable ; some sets plain buffy brown, others heavily splashed 

 with dark brown or wreathed at the larger end. 



Range : Whole of North America, south to northern South America. 



This is the smallest, handsomest, and one of the mos^- 

 useful of our Hawks. It is one of the three small species 

 that Dr. Abbott characterizes as belonging to the impetuous 

 class, in distinction from the larger Hawks, which he calls 

 meditative and deliberate. 



It is easily recognized from its small size, and it resem- 

 bles a big Fox Sparrow with a hooked beak and black 

 whiskers. 



The Sparrow Hawk has the Shrike's trick of dropping on 

 its prey from a height, instead of approaching in circles. 

 They collect in numbers in the fall and early spring near 

 bird-roosts, and seize their victims when they emerge in the 

 morning, and particularly toward night. 



Juncos, Chickadees, and Tree Sparrows lodge in the honey- 

 suckle hedge at the foot of the garden, and late one March 

 afternoon I saw a Hawk in a cedar tree near by. I watched 

 half an hour and thought it had gone. Suddenly a Junco 

 dashed into the hedge, followed by what seemed to be a 

 brown stone, it dropped so quickly, striking at right angles 

 against the heavy wire that supported the vine. The Junco 

 escaped through the trellis, and the Sparrow Hawk, in the 

 moment it took to recover itself, gave me a good chance to 

 identify it. 



