"i.|i:; I Sherman, Nest Life of the Sparrow Hawk. 413 



for food when the hitter were building their second nest. Another 

 pair of Brown Thrashers built their nests in gooseberry bushes, 

 their (irst nest being L05 feel from the hawk tree, the second 200 

 feet from it. In both cases the young left their nest, but it is 

 impossible to say that all escaped afterward. 



Enough cases have been cited to show that these Sparrow Hawks 

 were not nest robliers like the Blue .lays, neither did they take any 

 of the chickens, numbering fully one hundred and fifty, that were 

 brought out in a yard twenty rods from their tree. As far as my 

 observations extended their avian victims were fledglings not long 

 out of the nest; also that the Hawks were crafty enough not to 

 prey to any great extent upon the birds in the immediate vicinity 

 of their nest among which they were in bad repute. They were 

 frequently mobbed by Bronzed Grackles, that made vicious passes 

 at them, especially if one were eating, whereupon it raised its wings 

 and screamed, perhaps screamed for mercy. A dash of the King- 

 birds sent the Hawks squawking from their tree. Once a pair of 

 Baltimore Orioles followed one of them to the tree and for some 

 time acted as if they had a score to settle. At another time 

 Meadowlarks raised a tumult and followed the Hawks. It was 

 feared that the victim that time was the little Meadowlark, that 

 with a ( lowbird nest-mate had been watched and weighed from the 

 day of their hatching, and had but recently left the nest. The 

 Cowbird, seen at intervals later, was known to have escaped. 



When the hawklets required the largest supply of food the greater 

 part of four days, beginning June 20, was given to uninterrupted 

 study of the home life of the Hawks. Various places were chosen 

 from which to watch, until an upper window in the house was found 

 the best. It was three hundred feet from the nest, but nearly 

 twice that distance was traveled to reach the blind every time food 

 was delivered in the nest. These trips were for verifying the 

 identifications of the quarry, and in case it was a bird to secure its 

 tarsi. The top of the willow Mas about level with my window from 

 which with the aid of S-power binoculars the behavior of the Hawks 

 was easily seen. The male did the greater part of the hunting, 

 but there were a few times when the female brought food of her own 

 catching. The average length of the intervals between the bring- 

 ing of the quarry was two hours and twenty-five minutes, the 



