THE ARREDONDO SPARROW HAWK 11 



peated. Evidently it was an invitation for her to come and 

 see what a nice home was that hollow in the tree, and inci- 

 dentally, to have something good to eat. 



On the tenth of April the nest held four beautiful eggs, 

 blotched and spotted with varying shades of brown and 

 chocolate. A boy promptly climbed the pine and took the 

 eggs. On the twenty-ninth of April five more were added 

 to the boy's collection. Undismayed, the parents still 

 clung to their old home and nineteen days later there was 

 still another set of four eggs in the nest. But the Arre- 

 dondo sparrow hawk was destined to rear no young that 

 year, for the third time the tree was climbed and the nest 

 rifled. After this the birds gave up the attempt and no 

 more eggs were laid that spring. 



The next year they were more fortunate. The boy who 

 had had a mania for robbing nests had learned better. 

 Four young sparrow hawks were reared with much care 

 and great labor. In the autumn the young males went 

 through the maneuvers of love making. They circled about 

 the sky, clamoring in a noisy manner; one of them even 

 went so far as to cling to the side of a tree and look into 

 an old woodpecker's nest and try his voice on the low 

 love call. This was just playing at love making, how- 

 ever—a harmless sort of flirtation before the summer 



