Nip, the Young Sparrow Hawk 



By KATE P. and E. W. VIETOR, Brooklyn. N. Y. 



DURING the first days of April, 1916, a Sparrow Hawk appeared in our 

 neighborhood, a closely built-up section of Brooklyn, N. Y. His killy- 

 killy was often the first sound we heard in the morning, and a high 

 church-steeple was his favorite perch. 



On the 13th of the month there were two Sparrow Hawks about, and on 

 the i6th one was seen entering a broken cornice on a house in the next street. 

 This situation was rejected, however, and we never discovered the real nesting- 

 site, but we knew it must be nearby, and several times during May (though 

 the 13th was the only date we noted) we saw a parent bird carry off a fledgling 

 from a colony of English Sparrows' nests in a vine on a house at the rear of 

 our yard. 



On July 16 a lady brought us a young Sparrow Hawk which she had found 

 on her doorstep in a nearby street. Excepting for his tail, which was only 3 

 inches long, he looked fully grown. He was wild and sullen and defiant; draw- 

 ing himself back as if to strike, he fiercely nipped our hand though his mandi- 

 bles were too soft to be formidable. 



It was Sunday, and there was no raw meat to be had, so we tried to feed 

 him with the yolk of a hard-boiled egg, but though it was easy to put it on his 

 tongue, for his bill was constantly distended, he would not swallow, so we put 

 him under a peach-basket and left him in a darkened room. Peeping through 

 the cracks a little later, we saw him lying on his side, with legs drawn up, and 

 supposed him to be dying, but the next time we looked he was sitting up. 



Toward evening we took him out, and, holding him firmly, dropped water 

 from a spoon into his open bill. To our delight he swallowed it eagerly. In 

 this way we managed to wash down a little of the egg-yolk. A berry-crate 

 was substituted for the peach-basket, and he was left alone for the night. 



More than half expecting to find him dead, we hurried down next morning, 

 but he was alive and lively. We procured some beef, cut it in bits, and, holding 

 him as before, offered him a bit. He ate it greedily, bit by bit, and as he ate 

 he became docile. We put him back in his improvised cage, but he had tasted 

 freedom, and, fortified with the good beef, soon found his way out and estab- 

 lished himself on top of the crate where he sat, cjuiet and contented, the most 

 of the day. Toward e\ening he sprang about a foot to a shelf in the extension 

 which had been given up to him, where he sat on a box the second night. 



He was now so tame that he would sit on our hand, and although he showed 

 a great aversion to l)eing hekl, or to having his head touched, he did not object 

 to being fondled, and showed much pleasure in having his back stroked, rais- 

 ing it under the hand, like a cat. 



On the third day he adopted a perch, tin- highest the extension afforded, 

 but often lurncfl lii> head 011 one side as though looking for a higher one. \\- 



(225) 



