270 Bird Studies. 



The adult male Sparrow Hawk is about ten inches long. The top of 



the head is dull blue, and there is usually a pronounced crown patch of red- 



. . £, dish brown. The back is reddish brown, more or less 



American Sparrow ,■■,,,, -n, -i • 



Hawk. brokenly barred or spotted with black. 1 he tail is red- 



Faico sparverius Linn, jjgj^ brown, with a clear, broad black band near the end 

 and next to a narrow white band forming the tip. The shoulders are dull 

 blue spotted with black. The larger wing feathers are dusky, barred on 

 their inner webs with white. There is a clear black bar under the eye, and 

 another on the side of the head, defining the white region about the ears. 

 There are frequently two black marks in the brown on the back of the neck. 

 The lower parts vary from buff to white and the sides and flanks are more or 

 less spotted with black. The female has the red of the back extending to 

 the shoulders barred evenly throughout with dusky. The under parts are dull 

 white streaked with dusky. The head is similar to that of the male but duller. 

 The young show the difiference in plumage, correlating with sex, that is em- 

 phasized in adult birds. The birds nest in deserted Woodpeckers' holes, 

 and in hollows in trees. The eggs vary from three to seven in number and 

 in color from cream to reddish brown. They are sometimes unmarked but 

 generally are evenly specked with darker shades of their ground color. 

 They are about an inch and two fifths long by an inch and an eighth broad. 

 The birds range from Florida to Hudson's Bay and breed throughout the 

 entire region. They winter from Northern New Jersey southward. Their 

 chief food is insects, mice, and the smaller reptiles and they occasionally kill 

 small birds, but are on the whole of great benefit to the farmer and 

 fruitgrower. 



The Cuban Sparrow Hawk has been recorded from the Florida Keys. 

 It is a bird with the upper parts entirely dull slaty blue, except for some 



_ . ~ dark markinofs on the shoulders and back of the neck. 



Cuban Sparrow *' , i i i •, 



Hawk. The lower rump, the feathers above the tail, and the tail 



Faico dominicensis Gmei. ^j.g bright reddish browu. The lower parts are white 



in some individuals and in others reddish brown. It is about the size of or 



a little smaller than the Sparrow Hawk. 



j^ijgrljn_ The Merlin of Europe is a bird about twelve inches 



Fako reguius Pall, loug, grayish blue above and tawny yellowish with streak- 



