76 



NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



destroyed wherever the more desirable song and game birds are to be 

 preserved. 



The nest of the Sharp-shinned hawk in New York is almost always 

 built in an evergreen tree near the edge of a wooded gully or beside a log- 

 ging road in the forest. Hemlock, pine and arbor vitae seem to be its 

 preference, and the nest is built close to the trunk of the tree at a height 

 varying from lo to 40 feet. Compared with the nests of other hawks it is 



rather large for the size of the 

 bird, about equalling that of the 

 crow, and is deeply hollowed to 

 receive the eggs. It is composed 

 of sticks, usually of the pine and 

 hemlock, and lined with smaller 

 twigs and strips of bark. The 

 eggs are usually laid by the loth 

 or 25th of May. They are 4 or 5 

 in number, oval or short ovate in 

 shape, averaging 1.47 by 1.16 

 inches in size, and bluish white 

 or greenish white in ground color, 

 more or less heavily blotched and 

 spotted with brown of different 

 shades mingled with marblings of 

 drab or lavender and clay color. 

 These markings are sometimes 



Photo by Guv A. Bailey . ^ . . 



Sharp-shinned hawk's nest and eggs Unifomily dlStributcd OVCr thC 



surface of the egg, sometimes in a heavy wreath near the larger end, and at 

 other times shading down from heaviest at the very tip of the smaller end. 

 There is endless variety in the coloration of the eggs of this species, caus- 

 ing them to be eagerly sought by egg collectors, and I will confess that 

 cabinets filled with eggs of this bloodthirsty little pirate, as well as those 

 of the Cooper hawk, Crow, and Cowbird, have shown me that egg-gather- 



