BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 203 



seek locations considerably removed from dwellings, but do 

 not reject the outhouses when they are considerably separated 

 from the others. Indeed, one pair occupied a box used for a 

 dove roost. But who would find them in their most frequented 

 localities during the breeding season must go to groves of 

 timber bordering extensive meadows. They lay about four or 

 five eggs that are brownish-white, speckled all over with red- 

 dish-brown and frequently considerably blotched with a light 

 reddish. 



As an indication of their value to the agriculturist, I will 

 introduce an excerpt from the pen of M. de Lautrie, who says: 

 "In 1863 I took five little Sparrow Hawks and put them in a 

 cage. The parent birds immediately brought them food, and I 

 was not surprised to see that it consisted of twelve mice, four 

 large lizards and six mole crickets. A meal of like size was 

 brought every day for a month. At one time there were 

 fifteen field mice, two little birds and a young rabbit. Last 

 year I made the same experiment with the same result, one 

 meal consisting of twelve small birds, one lark, three moles, and 

 one hedgehog. In one month the five baby hawks rid the 

 world, by actual count, of 420 rats and mice, 200 mole-crickets, 

 and 158 lizards." 



Need a word be added to satisfy the most incredulous that 

 the Sparrow-Hawk is a friend of man, and should be protected 

 by law'' 



Late in July and August, the young being grown, tncy be- 

 come widely distributed and remain exceedingly common till 

 about the first to the tenth of October. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 



Frontal band and space including the eyes and throat, white ; 

 spot on the neck behind, two others on each side of the necki 

 and a line running downwards from before the eye, black. Spot 

 on the top of the head, necK behind, back, rump and tail, light 

 rufous or cinnamon color. Under parts, generally, a paler 

 shade of the same rufous as the back, frequently nearly white, 

 but sometimes dark as the upper parts, and always with more 

 or less numerous circular or oblong spots of black. Quills 

 brownish-black with white bars on their inner webs. Tail 

 tipped with w^hite, frequently tinged with rufous, and with a 

 broad subterminal band of black, outer feathers frequently 

 white, tinged with ashy and barred with black. Bill light blue; 

 legs yellow. Back generally with transverse stripes of black, 

 but frequently with very few, or entirely without; rufous spot 

 on the head, variable in size, and sometimes wanting. 



Length, 11. to 12.; wing, 7. to 7.50; tail, 5. to 5.50. 



Habitat, whole of North America. 



