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GAME FALCON. , l 269 
which are now in my cabinet. The eggs must have been sat upon 
several days; hence this was a full set. ‚Samuels collected one 
set of four in Maine, and says in his ornithology “I am inclined 
to think from what I can learn from collectors and others, that 
four is the usual number laid by this bird.” It is asserted by 
Audubon and others that the sparrow hawk raises two broods in 
a season in, the southern states. Not having any personal 
knowledge of the fact, I wrote to my friend, Dr. S. W. Wilson, 
of Georgia, who is an experienced ornithologist and oologist, rel- 
ative to this point. He says, that “the assertion of naturalists 
that birds south raise more than a single brood in the same season 
is certainly not applicable to the rapacious birds ;” and ‘again 
he says, “This is my experience after many observations, that 
none of the hawks and allied -birds breed more than once during 
the same season,” they begin nesting in Florida in February ; in 
the middle states, in April; in Connecticut, in the latter part of 
April and the early part of May; in Maine, in May and June. 
A lad brought. me a female sparrow hawk, April 26, 1871, which 
he shot on an old dead tree where he had seen it for several days. 
I inquired if he looked for a nest. ‘‘ Yes,” he replied, “ I looked the 
tree all over and saw no nest on it.” I told him to examine the 
_ holes in the tree. He returned the next day with two fresh eggs 
of this hawk. The set was incomplete but would have been full 
by the 1st of May. There is as much uncertainty about the age 
when this bird arrives at adult plumage as there is about the 
pigeon hawk’s age— probably, three or more years. I do not 
know whether they nest before arriving at adult plumage. The 
hawk taken here with eggs, and the pair from Granby with eggs, 
_Were adult birds; these are the only specimens that I have re- 
ceived that I knew positively had nested. 
Length, 10 to 12 inches—alar extent, 19 to 23 inches. 
“ Adult: Frontal band and space including the eyes and throat, 
white, spot on the neck behind, two others on each side of the 
neck, and line running downwards from before the eye, black. 
Spot on the top of the head, the neck behind, black; rump and 
tail light rufous or cinnamon color. Under parts generally a paler 
shade of the same rufous as the back, frequently nearly white, but 
Sometimes as dark as the upper parts, and always with more or 
less numerous circular or oblong spots of black. Quills brownish 
black, with white bars on their inner webs. Tail tipped with 
