124 THE BIRDS 
chestnut and reddish-brown over the entire surface. Size 
of eggs, 2.10x1.62. Fresh eggs May 2nd. In California, 
where these handsome eggs are prized most highly, and 
are quite plentiful, so desirable are they that the boys 
color hens’ eggs and put in the nest, after taking single 
egos, thus eliminating the possible chance of the birds de- 
serting before a full set is complete. They are one of the 
most rapid birds on the wing, their food consisting of 
birds and smaller mammals almost entirely. They rear 
but a single brood a season, but will if molested lay two 
or three settings more. I found no evidence of their 
breeding in the near vicinity of Bald Knob Mountain, 
Giles County, but the cliffs on Big Mountain and other 
similar localities along the Alleghenian range is their nat- 
ural habitat. 
SUBGENUS CERCHNEIS. 
[360]. Falco sparverius sparverius (Linneus). 
Sparrow Hawk. 
[ Little Chicken Hawk]. 
Ranex.—North America east of the Rocky Mountains. 
Breeds from the Upper Yukon, northwestern Mackenzie, 
southern Keewatin, and Newfoundland south to Texas and 
the eastern Gulf States (except Florida); winters from 
Kansas, Indiana, Ohio, and Massachusetts south through 
eastern Mexico to Costa Rica. 
This little fellow is one of the smallest birds of 
prey we have. A few remain throughout the entire 
year, the majority migrating further south in the fall 
about September 20th, and returning in the early spring 
about April 5th, at which time their numbers being so 
