nearly spherical, measuring from 1.12 to 1.18 in short-cliameter, and from 1.35 to 1.45 in long-diameter. 

 A common size is about 1.14x1.40. The ground-color is faint greenish-blue, almost white. The markings 

 consist of large irregular blotches, spots, lines, and speckles of various shades of brown. Three eggs before 

 me are marked as follows: 1. About the middle of the shell a large band made up of irregular 

 blotches encircle it. The colors of these blotches vary from yellowish-brown to sepia, the tints are nowhere 

 distinct, but are blended and superposed ; the rest of the shell is spotted pretty thickly with Vandyke 

 brown. A few deep shell-marks show neutral tint. 2. Three-fourths of the shell is faintly clouded with 

 yellowish-brown blotches, and superposed upon these are spots, short lines, and speckles of darker brown. 

 The intervening whitish places are likewise spotted and speckled. 3. About the base are a number of spots 

 of faded brown, and diagonally across from a little beyond the middle of the shell to almost the point is 

 a line an inch long of dark brown, at the point are blotches of neutral tint. Point and base have been 

 spoken of, as a matter of fact the eggs are so near alike at their ends that it requires an accurate eye 

 to determine the one from the other. 



DIFFERENTIAL POINTS: 



The eggs of the Sharp-shinned Hawk are so characteristic in their markings that this feature, when 

 taken with their size, is sufficient to identify them. The eggs of the Sparrow Hawk may be of the exact 

 dimensions expected in the eggs of the species being considered, but their markings are so essentially 

 different in color that they can never be mistaken, the one for the other. See page 214. 



REMARKS: 



Fig. 1, Plate, LXIII, represents three eggs of the Sharp-shinned Hawk, of the ordinary sizes, shapes, 

 ground-color, and markings. They were taken the 3rd of May, 1881. The coloring shows them as they 

 are to-da} r , I can not notice that the shades have faded any since the eggs were dried five years ago. 



The Sharp-shinned Hawk attracts the attention of the field ornithologist by the peculiarity of its 

 flight. It propels itself through the air with a peculiarly quick, flapping movement of the wings, resembling 

 not a little the motion of the Sparrow Hawk. The rapidity it attains is astonishing, it darts around and 

 through bushes with the speed of an arrowy and like a dart carries destruction in its path. None of our 

 Hawks are more rapacious; woe to the small bird that comes in its way. It seems unable to resist the 

 temptation to destroy every little bird it espies, and almost before its unsuspecting victim is aware of 

 danger the Hawk will whirl upon its prey and bear it off, a mass of quivering, suffering flesh, and flying 

 feathers. A Sharp-shinned Hawk descending blindly and furiously upon its prey, broke through the glass 

 of the green-house at the Cambridge Gardens, and still pursuing fearlessly passed through a second glass, 

 and was only brought to a halt by a third glass partition. It was a little stunned, and its wing-feathers 

 were so broken that the bird was caught. 



This Hawk is especially adapted for training by the falconer ; its boldness, cunning, light-weight, 

 quickness of movement, and, above all, its docility and readiness to learn, give an indication of what 

 might be expected of it if properly schooled. A bird of this species owned by a friend always reminded 

 me of a trained bull-clog. In the wild state the Sharp-shinned Hawk sometimes attacks birds larger than 

 itself, but the bird of my friend certainly outdid the record, by attacking a Great Blue Heron which 

 was tied by one leg in the yard. 



256 



