186 / BIRDS 



on again, past the thickets on the outskirts of woods, through 

 the orchard and about the farm, suddenly arresting flight 

 to pounce on its tiny prey. Its flight is not protracted nor 

 soaring. Never so hurried, so swift, or so fierce as other 

 small hawks, it is none the less active, and its charming, 

 hovering posture gives its flight a special grace. Kill-ee- 

 kill-ee-kill-ee it shrilly calls as it flies above the grass. 

 Every farmer's boy knows the voice of the killy hawk 

 which is not a true hawk but a falcon. Less shy of men 

 than others of its tribe, showing the famiharity of a robin 

 toward us, one frequently sees several little himters on the 

 same acre, especially aroimd the bird roosts in the spring 

 and autumn migrations. The sparrow-hawk would be a 

 universal favorite were it not for its rascality in devouring 

 little birds. So long as there is a grasshopper or a meadow 

 mouse to eat, it will let feathered prey alone; but these fail- 

 ing, it is a past master in dropping like a thunderbolt 

 upon the tree sparrows, juncos, thrushes, and other 

 small birds found near the ground in thickets and wood- 

 land borders. It does not touch little chickens, however. 

 Of the three hundred and twenty stomachs examined 

 for the Department of Agriculture, not one contained a 

 chick; but eighty-nine contained mice and two hundred 

 and fifteen contained grasshoppers and other large 

 insects. 



Unlike other birds of prey the sparrow-hawk builds no 

 nest, but lays its eggs in the hollows of trees, the crevices 

 of rocks, or in the outbuildings of a farm; but a deserted 

 woodpecker's hole is its ideal home. In different parts of 

 the country this beautifully colored little hunter is known 

 as the rusty-crowned falcon, the kestrel, the killy hawk, and 

 the mouse hawk. 



