BIRDS OF PREY 161 



360a. DESERT SPARROW UA^NK. —Cerchneis sparveria 

 phalcena. 



Family : The FalconSj Hawks, Eagles, etc. 



Length: Male 9.00-11.00 ; female 10.00-12.50. 



Adults: Top of head pale grayish brown, usually with rufous crown- 

 patch ; back light reddish browu, with or without black spots ; wings 

 all grayish brown ; tail reddish brown, with dark band ; under parts 

 whitish to butf, with or without ^brownish spots. 



Young : Similar to adults, but colors more blended. 



Geographical Distribution : Western United States and British Columbia, 

 south to Guatemala. 



Breeding Range : Wherever resident throughout the State of California. 



Breeding Season: April. 



N'est: In holes, usually in dead trees. 



Sggs: 2 to 5 ; white, marked with shades of brown. Size 1.36 X 1.12. 



Next to the marsh hawk, the handsome little Sparrow 

 Hawk is the one oftenest met with in California. From 

 his lookout on a dead tree at the edge of the meadow, 

 he watches for his prey. A slight movement in the 

 grass, and out he flies, poises over tlie spot like a king- 

 fisher over the water or a humming-bird at a flower 

 tube, then swiftly he drops with feet extended, strikes 

 the moving object, and rises with it in his talons. If he 

 has neither mate nor young in the nest, he carries the 

 tidbit to his dead-tree perch and eats it himself. But 

 when his home, in an old stump near by, is filled with 

 hungry nestlings, he flies directly to it with every morsel 

 he picks up. Sometimes it is a field mouse, sometimes 

 grasshoppers, lizards, or frogs, and sometimes, alas! 

 small birds. 



Although so small, he has the courage of his race, and 

 often captures prey at least twice his own weight, man- 



u 



