Kites, Hawks, Eagles, etc. 



tipped, and with a broad black band below it, the outer 

 feathers white with black bars; under parts white or bufT, 

 sometimes spotted with black. 



Female — Back, wing coverts, and tail rufous with numerous black 

 bars; under parts plentifully streaked with dark brown. 



Range — Eastern North America, from Great Slave Lake to north- 

 ern South America. Nests from northern limits of range to 

 Florida; winters from New Jersey southward. 



Season — Summer resident in the northern United States and 

 Canada; March to October; winter or permanent resident 

 south of New Jersey. 



Perched on a high dead limb, the crossbar of a telegraph 

 pole, a fence post, or some distended branch — such a point of 

 vantage as a shrike would choose for similar reasons — the beauti- 

 ful little sparrow hawk eagerly scans the field below for grass- 

 hoppers, mice, hair sparrows, and other small quarry to come 

 within range. The instant its prey is sighted, it launches itself 

 into the air, hovers over its victim, then drops like a stone, 

 seizes it in its talons, and flies back to its perch to feast. It 

 is amusing to watch it handle a grasshopper, very much as a 

 squirrel might eat a nut if he had but two legs. Or, becom- 

 ing dissatisfied with its hunting grounds, it will fly off over the 

 fields gracefully, swiftly, now pausing on quivering wings to 

 reconnoitre, now on again, past the thickets on the outskirts of 

 woods, through the orchard and about the farm, suddenly 

 arresting flight to pounce on its tiny prey. Its flight is not 

 protracted nor soaring. Never so hurried, so swift, or so fierce 

 as other small hawks, it is none the less active, and its charm- 

 ing hovering posture gives its flight a special grace. Kill-ee- 

 hill-ee-hill-ee it shrilly calls as it flies above the grass. Every 

 farmer's boy knows the voice of the killy hawk. Less shy of 

 men than others of its tribe, showing the familiarity of a robin 

 toward us, and it is certainly more social than most hawks, for 

 one frequently sees several little hunters on the same acre, espe- 

 cially around the bird roosts in the spring and autumn migrations. 

 The sparrow hawk would be a universal favorite were it not for 

 its rascality in devouring little birds. So long as there is a grass- 

 hopper or a meadow mouse to eat, it will let feathered prey alone; 

 but these failing, it is a past master in dropping like a thunderbolt 

 upon the tree sparrows, juncos, thrushes, and other small birds 



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