NIGHT AND DAY HUNTERS 185 



spot on crown, and several black patches on sides and 

 nape; back rusty brown, with a few black spots or none; 

 wing coverts ashy blue with or without black spots; tail 

 bright rufous, white tipped, and with a broad black 

 band below it, the outer feathers white with black bars; 

 under parts white or buff, sometimes spotted with 

 black. 



Female — ^Back, wing coverts, and tail rufous with numer- 

 ous black bars; under parts plentifully streaked with 

 dark brown. 



Range — ^Eastern North America, from Great Slave Lake 

 to northern South America. Nests from northern 

 limits of range to Florida; winters from New Jersey 

 southward. 



Season — Summer resident in the northern United States 

 and Canada; March to October; winter or permanent 

 resident south of New Jersey. 



Perched on a high, dead Hmb, the crossbar of a tele- 

 graph pole, a fence post, or some distended branch — such a 

 point of vantage as a shrike would choose for similar rea- 

 sons — ^the beautiful little sparrow-hawk eagerly scans the 

 field below for grasshoppers, mice, hair sparrows, and other 

 small quarry to come within range. The instant its prey 

 is sighted, it launches itself into the air, hovers over its 

 victim, then drops like a stone, seizes it in its talons, and 

 flies back to its perch to feast. It is amusing to watch it 

 handle a grasshopper, very much as a squirrel might eat a 

 nut if he had but two legs. Or, becoming dissatisfied with 

 its hunting grounds, it will fly off over the fields gracefully, 

 swiftly, now pausing on quivering wings to reconnoitre,'now 



