28 THE SPARROW HAWK. 



was lined with feathers. We have also, however, iound this bird 

 occupying the excavations made by Woodpeckers, as well as the 

 abandoned nests of other Hawks. Mcllwraith, of Hamilton, 

 states, that there the Sparrow Hawk frequents dry and sandy 

 places, and breeds in Woodpeckers' holes. The eggs I have seen 

 were of various shades of yellowish-brown, with darker dottings 

 or splashings, chiefly towards and at the larger end ; and a few 

 were met with of a pale yellowish white color, with but few 

 spots. There is no end to the variety of coloring and marking 

 displayed in any large collection of eggs of this species. My own 

 experience has been that the earlier in the season the eggs were 

 obtained the fewer were the pale or light colored ones, and the 

 later the rarer the darker colored and blotched ones. In other 

 words, the first eggs laid by these birds on their arrival in spring 

 are the freshest and most marked in color ; while subsequent 

 clutches contain a much larger proportion of the paler colors. 



It is, I think, pretty well known, that in some instances on 

 record in which a bird has been repeatedly robbed of its eggs 

 within a short season, and obliged to lay three or four times its 

 usual number, that these towards the last became of a very much 

 lighter and different color from those first laid, and were occasion- 

 ally even without any of the usual markings. The same diversities 

 of size, form and color among eggs of the same clutch have been 

 observed and recorded in the case of nearly every species in this 

 whole family, and we " see how utterly worthless are such dis- 

 crepancies as a means of deciding a mooted question of specific 

 identity, or the reverse, in nearly allied birds. Yet some ornithol- 

 ogists will compare a single egg with another, gravely note the 

 differences, and thereupon proceed to an argument with still 

 denser gravity."""' The eggs of the Sparrow Hawk are nearly 

 spheroidal, measuring about 1.33 by 1.12; from 5 to 6 eggs 

 are the usual nest-full, but sometimes one more is added ; three 

 to four birds, however, are the average number hatched. The 

 Sparrow Hawk is subject to wide variations in the color of its 

 plumage, but, as has been remarked by Cassin, these " do not 



* Coues. Birds of the North-West. 



