The American Sparrow Hawk 37 



covered one of their nests and the parent birds discovered me. 

 They made a ferocious attack upon me, and flew around me 

 with great fierceness, crying, "killy, killy, killy," and I think 

 they would have "killed" me if they could have done so. 



As is shown in the illustration, this hawk stands in a very 

 erect position more so than any other bird with which I am 

 acquainted. Its only note or call, so far as I am advised, is, 

 "killy-killy-killy," and this is uttered when it is in flight. At 

 times they seem to become much excited and make much noise 

 with this call. Because of this some people know it as the 

 killy hawk ; others as the mouse hawk because of the 

 great number of mice destroyed by them. One thing is sure, 

 and that is, that it ought not to have been named the sparrow 

 hawk, for the reason that the name is misleading and well cal- 

 culated to create a prejudice against it. As has been well sug- 

 gested, it would have been better to have named it the grass- 

 hopper hawk, since the greater portion of its food consists of 

 grasshoppers. It is one of the farmer's best friends and should 

 be protected for the good it does. 



Dr. A. K. Fisher of the United States Department of Ag- 

 riculture says that the subject of the food of the sparrow hawk 

 is one of great interest, and considered in its economic bear- 

 ings, is one that should be carefully studied. He says that it 

 "is almost exclusively insectiverous, except when insect food 

 is difficult to obtain. In localities where grasshoppers and 

 crickets are abundant, these hawks congregate, often in moder- 

 ate-sized flocks, and gorge themselves continuously. Rarely 

 do they touch any other food until, either by the advancing 

 season or other natural causes, the grasshopper crop is so less- 

 ened that their hunger cannot be appeased without undue ex- 

 ertion." He adds that they are also very fond of other destruc- 

 tive forms of life such as beetles, spiders, shrews, mice and 

 snakes, and that sometimes they catch small birds. Prof. King, 

 who examined the stomachs of seven sparrow hawks, says: 

 "Two of them had eaten two mice ; four, twenty-five grasshop- 

 pers ; three, twenty-five crickets ; one, six beetles ; one, five 

 moths, and one, two hairy caterpillars. One was seen to take 

 a young robin from the nest, and one to capture another bird 

 not identified." 



