AMERICAN SPARROW-HAWK. 249 



ring the severest weather of that season. These keep in the immediate 

 neighbourhood of barns, where now and then they secure a rat or a mouse 

 for their support. Sometimes this species is severely handled by the larger 

 Hawks. One of them who had caught a Sparrow, and was flying off with 

 it, was suddenly observed by a Red-tailed Hawk, which in a few minutes 

 made it drop its prey : this contented the pursuer and enabled the pur- 

 sued to escape. 



Theodore Lincoln, Esq. of Dennisville, Maine, informed me that 

 the Sparrow-Hawk is in the habit of attacking the Republican Swallow, 

 while sitting on its eggs, deliberately tearing the bottle-neck-like entrance 

 of its curious nest, and seizing the occupant for its prey. This is as fit 

 a place as any to inform you, that the father of that gentleman, who has 

 resided at Dennisville upwards of forty years, found the swallow just 

 mentioned abundant there, on his arrival in that then wild portion of the 

 country. 



In the Floridas the Sparrow-Hawk pairs as early as February, in the 

 Middle States about April, and in the northern parts of Maine seldom be- 

 fore June. Few are seen in Nova Scotia, and none in Newfoundland, or on 

 the western coast of Labrador. Although abundant in the interior of East 

 Florida, I did not observe one on any of the keys which border the coast 

 of that singular peninsula. During one of my journeys down the Mis- 

 sissippi, I frequently observed some of these birds standing on low dead 

 branches over the water, from which they would pick up the beetles that 

 had accidentally fallen into the stream. 



No bird can be ntiore easily raised and kept than this beautiful Hawk. 

 I once found a young male that had dropped from the nest before it was 

 able to fly. Its cries for food attracted my notice, and I discovered it 

 lying near a log. It was large, and covered with soft white down, 

 through which the young feathers protruded. Its little blue bill and yet 

 grey eyes made it look not unlike an owl. I took it home, named it 

 Nero, and provided it with small birds, at which it would scramble fiercely, 

 although yet unable to tear their flesh, in which I assisted it. In a few 

 weeks it grew very beautiful, and became so voracious, requiring a great 

 number of birds daily, that I turned it out, to see how it would shift for 

 itself. This proved a gratification to both of us : it soon hunted for grass- 

 hoppers and other insects, and on returning from my walks I now and then 

 threw a dead bird high in the air, which it never failed to perceive from 

 Its stand, and towards which it launched with such quickness as sometimes 



