BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 10 J 



360. Falco sparverius. 



American Sparrow Hawk. 



DESCRIPTION. (Plate 16 : Fig. 3, female : Fig. 8, male.) 



Length, 10 to 12 inches ; extent of wings, 18 to 23 inches. 



Hob. Whole of North America, south to northern South America. 



This well-known little Hawk is the smallest and most beautiful of 

 the family Falconidce. It is a resident, but is more numerous during 

 fall and winter than at other seasons. Unlike other of our native 

 Hawks, it sometimes rears two broods in a season. The Sparrow 

 Hawk builds no nest, but deposits her eggs numbering from five to 

 seven, rarely the latter number in hollow trees, selecting usually 

 the deserted hole of a woodpecker. The eggs, nearly spherical, meas- 

 ure about 1.33 by 1.13 inches, and are of a whitish or pale yellow- 

 brown color, blotched all over with dark brown. Oviposition occurs 

 in April. Occasionally, if the eggs are taken, the bird will a second 

 time deposit eggs in the same nest. When the young or eggs are dis- 

 turbed, the parent birds will sometimes defend invasion of their domi- 

 cile with great temerity. Some few years ago I was endeavoring to 

 secure the young from a nest of this species. I had climbed the tree 

 to the aperture, about thirty-five feet from the ground, wherein were 

 snugly packed five young, one of which I removed, when both old 

 birds assailed me. They several times struck my head and arms with 

 their talons and wings. So persistent were their attacks that I, desir- 

 ing to obtaining the young alive, directed a companion, who stood 

 near by, to shoot both birds. I have repeatedly taken the eggs and 

 young of this species, but never, only in the above- cited instance, en- 

 countered such determined opposition. When reared from the nest, 

 this species will soon become attached to its master. I raised two, 

 which were given their freedom. Both birds would come at my call 

 and alight on my outstretched arm or shoulders, anxiously waiting for 

 a grasshopper or piece of meat, which was always their recompense. 

 This Hawk will resort, for several consecutive years, to the same tree 

 for breeding purposes. From Doctor Wood's u Birds of Connecticut," 

 the following remarks, with regard to the nesting of this bird, are 

 taken : 



" One of my collectors found a nest of four eggs in the top of a 

 stump, about ten feet from the ground. This nest was composed of 

 grass, and was discovered by the grass protruding through a crack in 

 the stump. Whether this Hawk constructed this nest, or whether it 

 had been made by some other bird, it is impossible to tell ; but if this 

 Hawk constructs no nest, as asserted by Doctor Brewer and others, it 

 must have obtained it piratically, as the nest was new. In another 

 instance, which occurred in Granby, Connecticut, the nest was known 



