nearly spherical, measuring from 1.12 to 1.18 in short-diameter, and from 1.35 to 1.45 in long-diameter. 
A common size is about 1.14x1.40. The ground-color is faint greenish-blue, almost white. The markings 
consist of large irregular blotches, spots, lines, and speckles of various shades of brown. Three eggs before 
me are marked as follows: 1. About the middle of the shell a large band made up of irregular 
blotches encircle it. The colors of these blotches vary from yellowish-brown to sepia, the tints are nowhere 
distinct, but are blended and superposed ; the rest of the shell is spotted pretty thickly with Vandyke 
brown. A few deep shell-marks show neutral tint. 2. Three-fourths of the shell is faintly clouded with 
yellowish-brown blotches, and superposed upon these are spots, short lines, and speckles of darker brown. 
The intervening whitish places are likewise spotted and speckled. 3. About the base are a number of spots 
of faded brown, and diagonally across from a little beyond the middle of the shell to almost the point is 
a line an inch long of dark brown, at the point are blotches of neutral tint. Point and base have been 
spoken of, as a matter of fact the eggs are so near alike at their ends that it requires an accurate eye 
to determine the one from the other. 
DIFFERENTIAL POINTS: 
The eggs of the Sharp-shinned Hawk are so characteristic in their markings that this feature, when 
taken with their size, is sufficient to identify them. The eggs of the Sparrow Hawk may be of the exact 
dimensions expected in the eggs of the species being considered, but their markings are so essentially 
different in color that they can never be mistaken, the one for the other. See page 214. 
REMARKS : 
Fig. 1, Plate, LXIII, represents three eggs of the Sharp-shinned Hawk, of the ordinary sizes, shapes, 
ground-color, and markings. They were taken the 3rd of May, 1881. The coloring shows them as they 
are to-day, I can not notice that the shades have faded any since the eggs were dried five years ago. 
The Sharp-shinned Hawk attracts the attention of the field ornithologist by the peculiarity of its 
flight. It propels itself through the air with a peculiarly quick, flapping movement of the wings, resembling 
not a little the motion of the Sparrow Hawk. The rapidity it attains is astonishing, it darts around and 
through bushes with the speed of an arrow, and like a dart carries destruction in its path. None of our 
Hawks are more rapacious ; woe to the small bird that comes in its way. It seems unable to resist the 
temptation to destroy every little bird it espies, and almost before its unsuspecting victim is aware of 
danger the Hawk will whirl upon its prey and bear it off, a mass of quivering, suffering flesh, and flying 
feathers. A Sharp-shinned Hawk descending blindly and furiously upon its prey, broke through the glass 
of the green-house at the Cambridge Gardens, and still pursuing fearlessly passed through a second glass, 
and was only brought to a halt by a third glass partition. It was a little stunned, and its wing-feathers 
were so broken that the bii*d was caught. 
This Hawk is especially adapted for training by the falconer; its boldness, cunning, light-weight, 
quickness of movement, and, above all, its docility and readiness to learn, give an indication of what 
might be expected of it if properly schooled. A bird of this species owned by a friend always reminded 
me of a trained bull-dog. In the wild state the Sharp-shinned Hawk sometimes attacks birds larger than 
itself, but the bird of my friend certainly outdid the record, by attacking a Great Blue Heron which 
was tied by one leg in the yard. 
256 
