40 
The Sparrow Hawk 
suitable cavities are few, these birds may sometimes be induced to nest j 
in elongated bird-boxes nailed to trees or poles. To insure their occu- 
pancy it is desirable that the bottom of the box be supplied with a thick 
layer of sawdust, which takes the place of the small chips or fragments 
of decaying wood usually found lining hollows in trees. 
The male is very attentive to his mate during the nesting-season. 
Not only does he frequently take his turn at keeping the eggs warm, or 
brooding the newly hatched young, but he makes numerous trips to the 
nest with food for his mate while she is thus engaged. Many times 
I have watched with interest a male Sparrow Hawk Domestic 
as, sitting on a tree near the nest, he would call over Traits 
and over to his loved one to leave the eggs and come 
for the dainty tidbits which he had brought to her. 
Sometimes she would respond at once, but sometimes would turn 
,a deaf ear to his entreaties, allowing him to repeat his supplications 
for many minutes before going to him. At times he seems to grow 
weary of waiting, and begins to eat the captured insect or lizard he is 
holding. As he eats he continues to call, and the thick, half-interrupted 
notes must convey to her alert ears some suggestion of the joys that 
she is missing. More often, however, he yields to a more generous 
impulse, and at last flies to the hole and presents the food to her, as any 
self-respecting head of a family should do. 
At this time of the year the male is much given to shouting. Unable 
to express his feelings in rapturous song, as he hears the Mockingbird, 
the Thrasher, or the Wren doing all about him, he employs the only 
means at his command, and, — swinging in long curves through the air, 
or circling aloft, gives vent to his feelings by repeated cries of killy, killy, 
kitty. We can readily understand, therefore, why this bird has acquired 
the name “Killy Hawk,” by which it is almost universally known to the 
farm-boys of the South. 
Classification and Distribution 
The Sparrow Hawk belongs to the Order Raptores, the Suborder Falcones, 
the Family Falconidce and the Subfamily Falconince. The scientific name of the 
typical eastern form is Falco sparverius sparverius. It breeds from Alaska to 
Florida, and in winter may be found from Ohio and Massachusetts south through 
eastern Mexico to Costa Rica. Three subspecies are recognized as follows : 
Desert Sparrow Hawk (F. s. phalcena) , chiefly west of the Rocky Mountains; San 
Lucas Sparrow Hawk (F. s. p eninsularis) , reported from southern Lower Cali- 
fornia; and Little Sparrow Hawk (F. s. paulus), of Florida. 
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