FALCONID^ — THE FALCONS. 175 



The young birds, when they first appear, are covered with a white down. 

 Tliey grow with great rapidity, and are soon able to leave their nest, and are 

 well provided for by their parents until they are able to take care of them- 

 selves. They feed at first on grasshoppers and crickets. 



At Denysville, Me., these Hawks were observed to attack the Cliff Swal- 

 lows, while sitting on their eggs, deliberately tearing open their covered 

 nests, and seizing their occupants for their prey. 



In winter, these birds, for the most part, desert the Northern and Middle 

 States, but are resident south of Virginia. They can be readily tamed, es- 

 pecially when reared from the nest. Mr Audubon raised a young Hawk of 

 this species, which continued to keep about the house, and even to fly to it 

 for shelter when attacked by some of its wilder kindred, and never failed to 

 return at night to roost on its favorite window-shutter. It was finally killed 

 by an enraged hen, whose cliickens it attempted to seize. 



This Hawk constructs no nest, but makes use of hollow trees, the deserted 

 hole of a Woodpecker, or even an old Crow's nest. Its eggs are usually as 

 many as five in number, and Mr. Audubon once even met with seven in a 

 single nest. The ground of the eggs is usually a dark cream-color or a light 

 buff. In their markings they vary considerably. Five from a nest in 

 Maryland were covered throughout the entire surface with small blotches 

 and dottings of a light brown, at times confluent, and, except in a single 

 instance, not more frequent at the larger end than the smaller. The contents 

 of a nest obtained by Mr. Audubon on the Yellowstone Kiver had a ground- 

 color of a light buff, nearly unspotted, except at the larger end, with only a 

 few large blotches and splashes of a deep chocolate. In others, interspersed 

 with the light-brown markings are a few of a much deeper shade. In some, 

 the eggs are covered with fine markings of buff, nearly uniform in size and 

 color ; and others again are marked with lines and bolder dashes of brown, 

 of a distinctly reddish shade, over their entire surface, and often so thickly 

 as nearly to conceal the ground. The eggs are nearly spherical. The aver- 

 age length is 1.38 inches by a breadth of 1.13. They are subject to varia- 

 tion in size, but are uniform as to shape. They range in length from 1.48 

 to 1.32 inches, and in breadth from 1.08 to 1.20 inches. 



The eggs of Tinnunculus sparveroides, from Cuba, and of var. cinnamomi- 

 nus from Chile, differ in size and markings from those of North American 

 birds. Their gi'ound-color is much whiter, is freer from markings which 

 have hardly any tinge of rufous, but are more of a yellowish-brown. The 

 Cuban egg measures 1.28 by 1.08 inches ; the Chilian, 1.25 by 1.08. 



