THE AMERICAN" SPARROW-HAWK. 
93 
Sometimes this species is severely handled by the larger Hawks. One of 
them who had caught a Sparrow, and was flying off with it, was suddenly 
observed by a Red-tailed Hawk, which in a few minutes made it drop its 
prey ; this contented the pursuer and enable the pursued to escape. 
Theodobe Lincoln, Esq., of Dennisville, Maine, informed me that the 
Sparrow-Hawk is in the habit of attacking the Republican Swallow, while 
sitting on its eggs, deliberately tearing the bottle-neck-like entrance of its 
curious nest, and seizing the occupant for its prey. This is as fit a place as 
any to inform you, that the father of that gentleman, who has resided at 
Dennisville upwards of forty years, found the Swallow just mentioned abun- 
dant there on his arrival in that then wild portion of the country. 
In the Floridas the Sparrow-Hawk pairs as early as February, in the 
Middle States about April, and in the northern parts of Maine seldom before 
June. Few are seen in Nova Scotia, and none in Newfoundland, or on the 
western coast of Labrador. Although abundant in the interior of East 
Florida, I did not observe one on any of the keys which border the coast of 
that singular peninsula. During one of my journeys down the Mississippi, 
I frequently observed some of these birds standing on low dead branches 
over the water, from which they would pick up the beetles that had acci- 
dentally fallen into the stream. 
No bird can be more easily raised and kept than this beautiful Hawk. I 
once found a young male that had dropped from the nest before it was able 
to fly. Its cries for food attracted my notice, and I discovered it lying near 
a log. It was large, and covered with soft white down, through which the 
young feathers protruded. Its little blue bill and yet grey eyes made it look 
not unlike an owl. I took it home, named it Nero, and provided it with 
small birds, at which it would scramble fiercely, although yet unabie to tear 
their flesh, in which I assisted it. In a few weeks it grew very beautiful, 
and became so voracious, requiring a great number of birds daily, that I 
turned it out to see how it would shift for itself. This proved a gratification 
to both of us ; it soon hunted for grasshoppers and other insects, and on 
returning from my walks I now and then threw a dead bird high in the air, 
which it never failed to perceive from its stand, and towards which it launch- 
ed wit: such quickness as sometimes to catch it before it fell to the ground. 
The little fellow attracted the notice of his brothers, brought up hard by, 
who, accompanied by their parents, at first gave it chase, and forced it to 
take refuge behind one of the window-shutters, where it usually passed the 
night, but soon became gentler towards it, as if forgiving its desertion. My 
bird was fastidious in the choice of food, would not touch a Woodpecker, 
however fresh, and as he grew older, refused to eat birds that were in the 
least tainted. To the last he continued kind to me, and never failed to return 
