270 SPARROW HA WK. 



DIMENSIONS. 



Average measurdnent« of mule specimen^ IVom Eastern United States. Lengtli, 9'*0; stretch, 20-75; wing, H-75; tail, 

 4-00: l)ill, -50: tardus, r25. Lonijcst specimen, 10-25; greatest extent cif wing, Sd'OO: longest wing, 7-25; tail, 475; bill, 

 ■HO; tarsus, 1 30. Shortest specimen, O'lO; smallest extent of wing. I'J'SO; shortest wing, 6-25; tail, 325; bill, -40; tarsus, 

 115. 



Average measurements of female specimens from Eastern United States. Length, 10-15; stretch, 21-85; wing, 7'00: 

 tail, 4 50; bill, '50; tarsus, 1-27. Longest specimen, 11-25; greatest extent of wing, 22-75; longest wing, 7-50; tail, S'OO; 

 bill, -tiO; tarsus, 1-41). Shortest specimen, !)-10; smallest extent of wing, 21-00, shortest wing, 6-50; tail, 4-00; bill, -40; 

 tarsus, 115. 



DESCRTPTIOX OF NESTS AND EGGS. 



Nests, placed in holes of trees, either natural cavities or the deserted holes of Woodpeckers; but little or no material is 

 used in constructing the nest. 



Ei/ijs, four to six in nuaiber, rather spherical or broadly oval in form, ashy-white or reddish in color, spotted, dotted, 

 and blotched, with reddish-brown, dark-chcKchite, and occa^ittally with lilac, frequently so thickly as to obscure the 

 ground color. Dimensions from TOOx 1-25 to r05x 1-35. 



HABITS. 



Although the little Sparrow Hawks are quite common almost anywhere in Pennsyl- 

 vania and southward, I never found a locality where they were so abundant as about Mia- 

 mi in Southern Florida. They perfectly swarm here; in fact, it is not uncommon to see 

 twenty pairs in an hour's walk. In the North, they are very shy; indeed it was difficult to 

 procure specimens at Jacksonville; but at Miami, I was quite surprised to find them as un- 

 suspicious aa any of the small birds, fur they would permit me to walk directly under them 

 as they sat on the low limb of a pine, not more than twenty feet above my head. This 

 tameness is, probably, largely due to the fact that, previous to my visit, they had never 

 been hunted but I could not help thinking that they were affected the by enervating climate 

 in which they lived. It is true, they had the same abrupt, rattling cry, so characteristic 

 of this species evcry-where, but this was given with less vim, the birds exhibiting but little 

 excitement when uttering it, as they usually sat on a branch, only occasionally jerking their 

 tails. Even this latter named movement, so noticeable in members of this species, was 

 seldom made; in fact, much of the almost startling energy usually displayed by the Spar- 

 row Hawks in the North, appears to have nearly deserted these inhabitants of the Sunny 

 South. 



After all, the change in the birds is but comparative and the difference is not strick- 

 ing, for everything, in the almost perfect climate about Miami, is in keeping with ((uie- 

 tude and repose. Then, too, the Sparrow Hawks of Southern Florida, gain a livelihood 

 quite easily, for grasshoppers which form the greater part of their food, are very abundant 

 thoughout the year; so numerous, in short, that a Hawk may live, and live well, all its life 

 in an area of a few square rods, and it is extremely probable that many individuals pass 

 their entire lives within sight of the tree in which they were hatched. 



Thus the history of a particular pair of Sparrow Hawks of Miami, is easily written. 

 When th(! first rays of the morning sun touches the tops of the huge, weather-beaten pine 

 that has greeted his appearance many thousand times, the happy pair awake, stretch them- 

 selves, give a cry or two, and take their breakfast of grasshoppers; they lunch lightly on 

 the same insects, arrange their feathers at their leisure, then watch the flocks of Warblers, 



