120 THE HAWKS AND OWLS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



before taking wing", and when flushed it flies but a short distance. It 

 is quite another matter to advance upon one in phices where it is more 

 or less hiTuted. Experience seems to have taught it just how far a gun 

 will carry, and generally it will leave the i)erch just before an eflective 

 point is reached. After following it for an hour or more and taking a 

 few chance shots, the collector usually gives up in disgust and leaves the 

 Hawk in as good spirits as when first seen. 



The Sparrow Hawk builds its nest in hollows of trees, either in natu- 

 ral excavations which are formed by erosion of the dead wood by the 

 elements, or in holes made by the larger woodpeckers. If the flicker 

 {Colaptes) is the bird imposed upon, which is most often the case, it 

 never openly battles with the Hawk for the retention of its home, but 

 sometimes annoys the latter by removing the nesting material as fast 

 as it is deposited, making it finally necessary for one of the Hawks to 

 remain near to guard the nest. 



The cavity chosen is usually a considerable distance from the ground, 

 rarely under 20 feet and often in the tops of the higliest trees. In the 

 West, on account of its mode of nesting, the species is more or less re- 

 stricted in the breeding season to the vicinity of timber, though in 

 some localities it nests in cavities in limestone cliffs or in holes made 

 by kingfishers in the sand banks. It has been stated that occasionally 

 the deserted nests of crows or other birds are made use of, but this 

 habit must be extremely rare. Capt. Charles E. Bendire, whose field 

 experience in the West has been extensive and varied, and often in 

 places where birds by force of circumstances are not able to follow a 

 fixed habit, informed the writer that on one occasion only did he sus- 

 pect this hawk of breeding in an open nest. In the case in point the 

 evidence was anything but satisfactory, for although the birds were 

 seen near the nest, which was situated in a very large tree, he thought 

 there might have been a cavity which was not visible from the ground. 

 In California, Prof. B. W. Evermann has found it using the deserted 

 nest of the magpie. (Auk, vol.iii, 1886, p. 93.) This is not so strange, for 

 we might expect the entrance in the side of the canopied nest of the 

 magpie, simulating an opening in the side of a tree, would attract the 

 hawk, esj)ecially in a locality where desirable hollows are scarce. 



Dr. William Wood mentions the following interesting instance of 

 departure from its usual nesting habit: "A farmer made a dove house 

 inside of his barn with holes through the sides of the building commu- 

 nicating with it. A pair of doves that had nested there were attacked 

 and killed by a pair of sparrow hawks, who took possession of their 

 nest, laid four eggs, and commenced to sit." (American Naturalist, 

 vol. VIIT, 1874, p. 208.) 



Mr. John H. Sage (Ornithologist and Oologist, vi, 1881, 6), reports a 

 similar occurrence at Portland, Conn., where a pair of Sparrow Hawks 

 occupied a pigeon box, but unlike in the preceding case they were in 

 perfect harmony with the pigeons, as the latter occupied three of the 



