BIRD PARADISE 169 



Any smooth, hard surface in the fields or on the 

 roofs of houses will serve the purpose, the eggs 

 being shaped so that they will not roll about. 

 Its name of hawk is a misnomer, there being 

 nothing of the hawk nature in the bird's make-up. 

 Their food is taken on the wing — consisting al- 

 most entirely of insects. We saw them in large 

 numbers on the great plains of Oklahoma, that 

 latitude being their winter home. I noticed that 

 the whippoorwills and night-hawks were quite 

 close friends during their stay in the South. 

 Curious how their habits changed as they sought 

 the new home in the South. There we saw them 

 on the ground searching for food. I do not re- 

 member that I ever saw them doing this at the 

 Northern home. Their record reads "good fel- 

 lows wherever they are." 



Just as I was ready to pen these notes I glanced 

 from my study window, and on the limb of the 

 fir tree, not fifteen feet from where I was sitting, 

 one of our medium sized hawks was standing, 

 holding securely an English sparrow which he 

 had just caught. He went deliberately to work 

 preparing his prize for breakfast. For twenty 

 minutes and more the fellow kept his perch, tak- 

 ing his meal as deliberately as though he were 



