144 BIRDS OP ALABAMA 



Dr. A. K. Fisher, after an exhaustive study of its food, 

 found it to be almost exclusively insectivorous. Grasshoppers 

 and crickets are preferred by the hawks and only when these 

 insects become scarce do they turn their attention to other 

 sources of food. Beetles, spiders, mice, shrews, small snakes, 

 lizards and occasionally small birds are included in the bird's 

 fare. 



Of 320 stomachs of this bird examined by Dr. Fisher in the 

 Biological Survey, 215 contained insects ; 29, spiders ; 89, mice ; 

 12, other mammals ; 12, reptiles or batrachians ; and 54, other 

 birds.* 



LITTLE SPARROW HAWK: Cerchneis sparveria paula 

 Howe and King.f 



State records. — The smaller form of the sparrow hawk oc- 

 cupies the southern half of the State, from Autauga County 

 southward, where it is locally common, both in winter and 

 summer. Specimens have been examined from Autaugaville 

 (January 21, November 23, December 8), Barachias (Novem- 

 ber 21), Dothan (June 12), Castleberry (June 1), and Orange 

 Beach (September 20, January 30). The bird doubtless 

 breeds at all these localities, and has been seen also at Jackson, 

 Brewton, Mobile, Nigger Lake, Headland, Fairhope, Bayou 

 Labatre, and on Dauphin Island (May 18) . Golsan records a 

 nest with fresh eggs found at Autaugaville, April 11, 1910.J 



General habits. — The habits of this bird are essentially the 

 same as those of the northern race; like it, the little sparrow 

 hawk is partial to cultivated lands and pastures, especially 

 where there are numerous hollow trees which may serve as 

 nesting sites. 



OSPREYS: Family Pandionidae. 



OSPREY; FISH HAWK: Pandion haliaetus carolinensis 



(Gmelin) . 



State records. — The osprey, or fish hawk, is a fairly com- 

 mon resident on the coast; in the interior it occurs locally as 



•Biol. Surv. Bull. No. 3, p. 127, 1893. 



tFalco sparvcrios paulus of the A. O. U. Check-Hat ; for change of name see The 

 Auk, vol. 34, p. 201, 1917. 



JGolsan and Holt, The Auk, vol. 31, p. 222, 1914. 



