The Sparrow Hawk 
39 
Grasshoppers 
Preferred 
when insect-food is difficult to obtain. In localities where grasshoppers 
and crickets are abundant these hawks congregate often in moderate- 
sized flocks, and gorge themselves continuously. Rarely do they touch 
any other form of food until, either by the advancing season or other 
natural causes, the grasshopper-crop is so lessened that 
their hunger cannot be appeased without undue exer 
tion. Then other kinds of insects and other forms of 
life contribute to their fare ; and beetles, spiders, mice, shrews, small 
snakes, lizards, or even birds, may be required to bring up the balance. 
In some places in the West and South telegraph-poles pass for miles 
through treeless plains and savannas. For lack of better perches, the 
Sparrow Hawks often use these poles for resting-places, from which 
they make short trips to pick up a grasshopper or mouse, which they 
carry back to their perch. At times when grasshoppers are abundant 
such a line of poles is pretty well occupied by these hawks. In the 
vicinity of Washington, D. C., remarkable as it may appear to those 
who have not interested themselves especially in the matter, it is the 
exception not to find grasshoppers or crickets in the stomachs of the 
Sparrow Hawks, even when killed during the months of January and 
February, unless the ground is covered with snow. It is wonderful 
how the birds can discover the half-concealed, semi-dormant insects, 
which in color so closely resemble the ground or dry grass. 
In the spring, when new ground or meadow is broken by the plow, 
they often become very tame if not molested. They fly down, even alight- 
ing under the very horses for an instant in their endeavor to capture an 
unearthed mouse or insect. 
In speaking of its nesting-habits, T. Gilbert Pearson says : 
In the Southern States the eggs are almost invariably laid in the 
abandoned nesting-cavity of the Flicker, a bird which is very abundant, 
particularly in the pine-tree regions. If undisturbed, the birds will often 
continue to use the hole year after year until one or the other of the 
pair is killed. They appear to mate for life, and even during the season 
when not employed in rearing young they display an Nest 
attachment somewhat unusual among birds. While not and 
demonstrative in the least at this period they never- Eggs 
theless remain in close proximity to each other, feeding frequently in the 
same field, and often roosting at night under the eave of the same building. 
The eggs number usually four, but sometimes five. They exhibit a 
wonderful variety of rich markings of various shades of brown, chocolate 
and lavender. These spots and splotches usually show a tendency to 
cluster in a circle around the larger end, but not infrequently this 
intensity of marking is noticeably gathered about the smaller end. Now 
and then, but rarely, an egg is found almost destitute of color-decorations 
of any character except the pale blue ground-color of the shell. 
One family of young is reared in a season, but if accident befalls 
these before leaving the nest, or the eggs are taken, the parents will 
lay a second clutch, often in the same cavity, if this has not been torn 
open. I knew one pair of Sparrow Hawks to lay three sets of eggs. 
In parts of the United States where trees are scarce, and therefore 
