276 Sketches of Some Common Birds. 



in localities where the other birds of beak and talon are 

 being rapidly reduced in numbers. 



In this section of central Illinois the sparrow hawks are 

 migrants, making their appearance early in March. I 

 have never seen them here in midwinter, but in summer 

 they are rather common. Colonel Goss records them as 

 residents in Kansas. They are said to be distributed over 

 the whole of temperate North America in summer, and 

 in winter to range as far south as northern South Amer- 

 ica. They are fond of the telegraph wires along the rail- 

 roads for points of observation for their early resorts, be- 

 fore they settle upon their regular habitations, and thence 

 they make frequent excursions over the bordering fields 

 and meadows in search of the small forms of animal life 

 on which they depend for their ordinary fare. 



Their irregular, darting flight is well known to observ- 

 ers, as well as their habit of hovering above a particular 

 spot or over their intended quarry for many moments at 

 a time, beating the air with their wings and yet retaining 

 the same situation in space. After thus hovering above 

 their quarry, they will either swoop down and seize it, or 

 else follow it in its movements a few yards, and then per- 

 haps engage in the same actions before taking their prey, 

 or perhaps they will abandon it and continue their flight. 

 In hovering above their quarry, the sparrow hawks partly 

 support themselves and check their forward motion by 

 the expanded tail, and the head is protruded forward and 

 downward, ready for quick and accurate movement. 



" Upon a lofty branch the sparrow hawk may be seen 

 resting or patiently ' waiting for something to turn up,' 

 sitting quietly, in an upright position, sometimes for an 

 hour or more. Should a thoughtless mouse steal incau- 

 tiously from her nest for a ramble, the quick eye of its 

 watchful enemy detects it. He first dives from his perch 

 and flies directly over the object in view. Should the 

 latter bo quiet for a while, the hawk poises itself in mid- 

 air, its fanlike tail widely expanded and its head lowered, 

 waiting for a favorable opportunity to descend upon its 

 intended victim. But the mouse is usually rather rest- 

 less, running first to one point, then, after a short halt, 

 zigzagging off to another. The hawk, however, follows 



