58 



THE OOLOGIST 



Note on the Nesting Habits of the 



Sparrow Hawk (Falco spar- 



verius). 



fpHE Sparrow Hawk, like many other 

 birds whose persistency in occupying a 

 nest after repeated deprivation of their eggs 

 is pretty well known to oologists, often dis- 

 plays considerable attachment to an old hole 

 ill the dead limb of a tree;, and, too, this 

 j)ersistency often goes beyond the reasona- 

 ble bounds of prudence. A pair, having 

 nested in a squirrel's hole in a monster dead 

 basswood tree, reared four or five young. 

 The next season, the tree was broken off by 

 the wind two-thirds of the way up, and the 

 broken piece (which contained the nest) ! 

 toppled over and lodged in a small tree, but \ 

 renuiined attached to the standing portion 

 by a splinter and piece of bark. The Hawks 

 fixed over their old nest and laid the custom- { 

 ury set of eggs, which, notwithstanding the 

 risk attending the scaling of a rotten and in- 

 secure trunk, were duly taken. Undaunt- 

 ed, the pair laid another set, this time of 

 three, in the same hole, within a week after 

 the first set was taken, in the incubation of 

 which they met with as little success, for 

 th.ey were robbed again. Foiled in their 

 attempts to raise any young, it was suppos- 

 I'd they gave it up entirely for the season, 

 for the next year they came back to the 

 broken trunk, laid five eggs, and for a third 

 successive time were deprived of them. 

 This was too much : they left the neighbor- 

 hood, and whether or no they ever returned 

 afterward could not be ascertained. The 

 same year that the last clutch was taken, 

 llie home of another pair in the very top of 

 a straight, dead tree, was despoiled of five 

 eggs, on the 24th of May ; on June 1st it 

 was again visited — result, three eggs. 

 It was not ascertained whether this pair 

 deserted or not. 



A lively Sparrow Hawk will frequently 

 show himself a noble defender of his pos- 

 sessions, by making it unpleasant for the 

 robber. While as a rule, most birds of 

 prey keep a respectful distance, this little 



fellow has it in him to attempt resistance 

 by flying at the intruder when off, and by 

 showering blows with its sharp beak when 

 upon, the nest. Those spiteful notes V-/i/, 

 't-iit^ I'd-le, kil-le, are an alarm which all the 

 birds in the vicinity might recognize, were 

 it policy ; but it does not seem to us that 

 there is anything of either grief or dismay 

 in the notes. 



The eggs of this Hawk are an interesting 

 study. They do not often differ in shape 

 and general aspect, but the variety of tints. 

 and the different groupings of the mottled 

 portions are such, especially since the egg 

 is always handsome, as to make a most a- 

 greeable display in the cabinet. Some of 

 them are exceedingly delicate in tint, the 

 creamy ground color being tantastically be- 

 spattered Avith red ; others are deeply pink, 

 with Indian red surface markings. Some- 

 times one end will be bare of spots, while 

 they will a[)pear to have crowded toward 

 the other, the number gradually incrci'.sing 

 until the ground color is indistinguishable 

 through the mass. 



From the moment tlie young appear till 

 the time when they are able to catch theii- 

 own Sparrows, it is as much as the parents 

 can do to keep them from starving, for the 

 little things eat almost to suffocation ; they 

 keep up their "chil-l-l-'p" until, having eat- 

 en all 'twere possible to cram into tliem, they 

 close their eyes, their crops stick out, and 

 they gasp as if choked. 



Nesting of the Black -throated 

 Bunting (Euspiza americana). 



TIHIS member of the Frinfiillidce, altho' 

 classed among the accidental visitors to 

 New England, is abundantly distributed 

 throughout the south and west. There it 

 breeds, placing its nest upon or near the 

 ground. Several pairs associating they 

 undertake predatory excursions to the ad- 

 jacent fields, where they glean a precari- 

 ous[?] subsistence from the animal and 

 vegetable matter which collects in such 

 places. 



