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ORNITHOLOGISTS’ »° OOLOGISTS' 
SEMI-ANNUAL. 
VOL. 2. JOE PSOO: N@i2: 
THE AMERICAN SPARROW HAWK. 
falco Sparverius. 
BY DR. W. S. STRODE, BERNADOTTE, ILL. 
This beautiful little Falcon is quite common in the Spoon riv- 
er country of central Illinois. In a ten-mile drive in the valley 
or along the bluffs, the observer may see many pairs of them dur- 
in the spring and summer months. 
They usually arrive between Feb. 20th and March ist, and 
their food consist at this time largely of the Short-tailed Meadow 
Mice (Avicola riparius.) Of this little rodent vast numbers 
find a suitable home in the grassy sloughs and meadows along the 
river. Later in the season beetles and grasshoppers are added to 
their bill of fare. 
On March tst of this year the arrival of the first Sparrow 
Hawk was noted. On the 2d, five were seen and four of the 
number had in their talons a meadow mouse. They showed but 
little fear of me and would fly along the fence only a few rods in 
advance of my horse, the mouse dangling from the talons of one 
foot, presenting rather a comical appearance. 
March 25th I went to a meadow near the village of Bernadotte 
to collect a series of Horned Larks (Otocoris alpestris.) 
Flying about over the field was a pair of Sparrow Hawks, eagerly 
Searching for a breakfast of meadow mice, dashing from one lo- 
cality to another, and facing the wind, which was blowing quite 
fiercely, they would poise in mid-air, and, with tremulous wine, 
