102 BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



to have been obtained in this way: A farmer made a dove-house in- 

 side of his barn, with holes through the sides of the building commu 

 nicating with it. A pair of doves that had mated there were attacked 

 and killed by a pair of Sparrow Hawks, who took possession of their 

 nest, laid four eggs, and commenced incubating." 



Incubation, which lasts for about a period of from twenty-one to 

 twenty-four days, is engaged in by both birds, and while one is sitting 

 its mate supplies it with food. When first hatched, the young are cov- 

 ered with a white down. The food of young, while under parental 

 care, I have found to consist chiefly of insects. 



FOOD. 



H. W. Henshaw says : " Its food consists chiefly of the various kinds 

 of coleopterous insects and grasshoppers, of which it destroys multi- 

 tudes ; in fact, this last item is the most important of all, and where 

 these insects are abundant I have never seen them recourse to any 

 other kind of food." 



Allen, in his u Ornithological Notes on the Birds of the Great Salt 

 Lake Valley," says : " The Sparrow Hawk, however, was by far the 

 most numerous of the Falconidce ; thirty were seen in the air at one 

 time near the mouth of Weber canon, engaged in the capture of the 

 hateful grasshoppers, which seems at this season to form the principal 

 food of this and other birds." Audubon mentions that he had one 

 of these birds tamed. It was allowed its liberty. ifc In attempting to 

 secure a chicken one day, the old hen attacked him with such violence 

 as to cost him his life." Doctor Wood says : " When they cannot 

 readily procure their favorite food, mice and small birds are greedily 

 devoured ; and, according to a writer in the American Naturalist, 

 they are not wholly devoid of the piratical habits of the Bald Eagle-. 

 4 A tame cat was crossing the street and bearing a large mouse in her 

 mouth ; a Sparrow Hawk came flying over, and seeing the mouse in 

 her mouth, made a sudden swoop and tried to seize it with its talons, 

 but did not succeed. The Hawk continued its attempts until they 

 reached the opposite side of the street, when the cat disappeared 

 under the sidewalk.' If it catches a mouse that proves to be lousy 

 and poor, it will leave it and seek another." Gentry writes : " Of all 

 our falcons, it is the least timid and suspicious; and manifests nearly 

 the courage and address of F. columbarius. Like the latter, it does 

 not deserve the severe censure and cruel persecutions which are oc- 

 casionally inflicted upon it. It is certainly regarded in some sections 

 with less disfavor than any other species. The countless number of 

 field-mice and noxious insects which it destroys should command for 

 it universal respect. It is certainly a great benefactor to agriculturists. 

 It is too frail a creature to commit much mischief in the farm-yard. 



