1902.
May 9
(No 2)
There were two pairs of Phoebes at the Farm
in early April but of late I have seen only the
birds which are nesting under the eaves of the old barn.
Yesterday, however, I saw a Phoebe flying in and
out of the cellar under the new barn and the
same thing happened again to-day when I made an
investigation and discovered a nest apparently
nearly if not quite completed built on a brace between
two rafters. It certainly had not been begun on the
3rd of this month for on that day I put up a box
within a yard of the brace hoping that a Phoebe
might be tempted to nest in it.
  As I was skirting the Green Field this
morning I discovered a male Sparrow Hawk hovering
about thirty feet above the ground breasting the
strong wind and evidently watching for prey. It
remained poised less than a minute and then
passed out of sight over the woods to the northward.
Although the Sparrow Hawk and the Pigeon Hawk
closely resemble one another when on wing I think
that the former may be readily distinguished from
the latter by its more bouyant and erratic flight.
It rarely proceeds far in a perfectly straight line
but is ever inclining to one side or the other as well
as rising and falling, at least slightly. Its wings,
also look longer than those of the Pigeon Hawk.
The latter flies very straight and when it has
occasion to vary its course does so in a long smooth
curve, not abruptly. I cannot recall ever seeing it poise
or hover as the Sparrow Hawk is so given to doing.
71