186 LIFE HISTORIES OP NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



Mr. Lynds Jones, of Grinnell, Iowa, says: "Once during the breeding 

 season I saw a male catch a large garter snake and fly up with it several 

 hundred feet, then drop it to the female, who just then came flying along near 

 the ground; she caught and carried it to the nest, followed by the male." 



Mr. George G. Cantwell found a nest of this species placed on a haycock. 



The male assists to a certain extent in incubation, which lasts somewhat 

 over three weeks, and seems to begin, occasionally at least, before the complete 

 set of eggs is laid. Both parents assist in caring for the young, and the family 

 remains together for sometime after they leave the nest. The young when first 

 hatched are covered with a grayish buffy down. But one brood is raised in 

 a season. 



The eggs, commonly from four to six in number, and usually laid at inter- 

 vals of two and three days, are pale greenish or bluish white in color, and the 

 majority are unspotted. Quite a number, however, are more or less blotched 

 and spotted with pale buff and brownish markings. About two-fifths of the 

 series are more or less plainly marked. The shell is smooth and slightly glossy. 

 In shape these eggs vary greatly, ranging through the different forms of ovate. 



The average measurement of seventy-three specimens in the U. S. National 

 Museum collection is 46 by 36 millimetres. The largest egg in the series meas- 

 ures 52 by 38 millimetres; this was taken on the Lower Anderson River, Arctic 

 America, by Mr. R. MacFarlane, of the Hudson Bay Company. The smallest 

 of the series measures 43 by 34 millimetres, and was taken by the writer near 

 Fort Walla Walla, Washington. 



Of the type specimens figured, No. 13249 (PI. 5, Fig. 8), a single egg, was 

 taken in Maine by Dr. B. Dixon; No. 20686 (PL 5, Fig. 9), from a set of five 

 eggs, four of which are distinctly spotted, was taken near Fort Lapwai, Idaho, 

 May 14, 1870; and No. 20690 (PI. 5, Fig. 10), from a set of eight eggs, was col- 

 lected near Fort Walla Walla, Washington, on May 8, 1882. The last two 

 types are from the Bendire collection. 



65. Accipiter velox (Wilson). 



SHARP-SHINNED HAWK. 



Falco velox Wilson, American Ornithology, v, 1812, 116, PL 45, Fig. 1. 

 Accipiter velox Vigors, Zoological Journal, 1, 1824, 338. 



(B 17, C 338, R 432, C 494, U 332.) 



Geographical range: North America in general, south in winter to Guatemala. 



The Sharp-shinned Hawk breeds throughout the entire United States, but 

 in the more southern portions, excepting the mountain regions, it must be con- 

 sidered as a rather rare summer resident. The only eggs of this species from 

 the South in the U. S. National Museum collection are two, said to have been 

 taken near Edinburg, Texas. Mr. Wiedemann has found it nesting in Flor- 

 ida, and Mr. G. E. Beyer informs me that it is a summer resident in southern 



