pursuit and rarely fail to catch the ob- 

 ject they are after. They seize grasshop- 

 pers with their talons, even when they 

 are caught while the birds are flying. 

 The nesting habits of the Sparrow 

 Hawks are very various and interesting. 

 Major Bendire has said, "Like most of 

 our Raptores the Sparrow Hawk, I be- 

 lieve, remains paired throughout life, at 

 any rate they certainly appear to be al- 

 ready so on their return from their win- 

 ter homes." The common nesting sites 

 of these birds are holes in trees, these 

 may be natural or those made and aban- 

 doned by the larger of woodpeckers. The 

 cavities selected are not often lower than 

 twenty feet above the ground and they 

 are very often located near the tops of 

 very tall trees. The western forms of 

 the Sparrow Hawk have been known to 

 use deserted nests of magpies. This may 

 not seem strange, as Dr. Fisher has said, • 

 "for we might expect the entrance in 

 the side of the canopied nest of the mag- 

 pie, simulating an opening in the side 

 of a tree, would attract the Hawk, es- 

 pecially in a locality where desirable hol- 

 lows are scarce." Sparrow Hawks have 

 also been known to occupy cavities in 

 limestone and sandstone cliffs. They are 

 also known to occupy the excavations 

 made in banks by kingfishers. They 

 have also been reported as occupying the 

 open nests of crows and other birds but 

 such instances are certainly rare. It is 

 hardly proper to say that the Sparrow 

 Hawks make a nest, for the eggs are us- 

 ually laid on whatever rubbish the birds 

 found at the bottom of the cavity selec- 

 ted. Some observers report, however, 

 that they have been known to carry into 

 the nesting cavity, at times, large quan- 

 tities of dry leaves and grass. Major 



Bendire has said, "Even when persistent- 

 ly disturbed the Sparrow Hawk will re- 

 turn to the same nesting site from year 

 to year. They are diligent layers, usually 

 depositing a second set and occasionally 

 a third should they lose the first." Mr. 

 Dawson, in his "Birds of Ohio," has well 

 expressed the habits of this interesting 

 Hawk during the mating season. He 

 says: "Always graceful, the Sparrow 

 Hawk is seen to best advantage during 

 the courting season, when the male re- 

 affirms his fondness for his life-long 

 mate by circling about her as she sits up- 

 on the tree-top; or he measures the 

 height of his devotion by ascending to 

 the clouds before her, and dashing him- 

 self at her feet again with shrill cries of 

 killy,^ killy, killy." These notes in some 

 localities have caused the Sparrow Hawk 

 to be called the Killy Hawk. 



Three varieties of the Sparrow Hawk 

 are recognized by many ornithologists. 

 The range of these varieties, which are 

 very much alike and have practically the 

 same habits, extends over the United 

 States from the Atlantic to the Pacific 

 Ocean. The form we illustrate is found 

 chiefly east of the Rocky Mountains and 

 from the region of the Great Slave Lake 

 southward to the northern portion of 

 South America. It breeds from Florida 

 and the coast of the Gulf of Mexico 

 northward to the limits of its range. 



We sincerely hope that all will remem- 

 ber that this handsome little Hawk de- 

 serves careful protection wherever it 

 may be found. While it may occasion- 

 ally devour a young chicken, its food as 

 a whole consists of insects and other liv- 

 ing forms which are opposed to our agri- 

 cultural interests. 



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