Nesting of the Sharp-shinned Hawk. 
In the summer of 1878, as I was passing 
along tlie road tliat l)orders Cedar Swamp, I 
heard the cries of some species of young 
birds witliin tlie adjacent forest, wliich I at 
first supposed to be that of young Crows, 
but presently an unusual note attracted my 
[attention and my curiosity sufficiently to draw 
jme from the road and in among the tall 
'cedars on an investigation. Tlie source of the 
jcries was speedily developed, and I saw an old 
iSharp-shinned Hawk go dasliing away, fol- 
jlowed quickly hy a number of young ones 
well fledged, all immediately disappearing in 
the denser part of tlie forest. 
Tliis adventure gave me an idea ; here are 
young Sliarp-shinned Hawks, consequently 
there must have been a nest and eggs, and here 
next season will be another, and don't you 
forget it, as the boys say, for a nest of that 
.'species was one wliicli 1 liad never had the 
good fortune to find. It may be depended 
upon that my memory was faithful to its 
trust in a matter of so much interest, though 
I had no clue to work upon, having had no 
experience of the nesting habits of the 
species. Perseverance will sometimes, how- 
ever, fill the place of experience. 
In this case, on the 27th of May, 1879, during 
one of my reiieated tramps within the shady 
precincts, I was suddenly startled by a loud 
cry like Icll-dy, kil-dy, kil-dy, three times 
vapidly repeated, and a little male Sharp- 
siiinned Hawk came dasliing by my head and 
perching on a neighboring bough again 
repeated his wild cries. Of course I was at 
once wide awake to the possibilities, though 
this was only one of the clews'; thoroughly 
followed uii, however, it led me at last to the 
spot wliere, in one of a group of cedars near 
at hand, about forty feet from the ground, I 
saw a nest and the long tail feathers of the 
sitting bird extending over one side of it. As 
I climbed the tree she joined her mate in his 
outcries and kil-dy-^ kil-dy, kil-dy resounded 
on every side in stirring remonstrances against 
the intrusion. The little male bird was the 
most demonstrative of the pair, and he would 
dash at me with the greatest violence and 
utter his most piercing cry within a few feet 
of my head, threatening to strike me with 
ills talons, the mate encouraging him and 
reiterating his stirring outcries. 
With great gratification I gathered in tlie 
beautiful set of five handsomely marked 
eggs, the first set of the species it had been 
my good fortune to secure. None but a col- 
lector can appreciate the satisfaction such an 
acquisition for the first time yields. We may 
become accustomed to a series of successes 
till we can greet them with indifference, but 
tlie satisfaction of that first triumph never 
fades and it is never forgotten in its minutest 
circumstance. 
In 1880 I was fully prepared with a hearty 
welcome for Accipiter, and after a little delay 
was gratified to hear again the old familiar- 
note. This time the nest was built lower- 
down, not over fifteen feet from the ground, 
and I found the female sitting on the nest 
several days before the first egg was deposited, 
and it was near the 10th of June before the set 
was completed. 
In 1881 the wily pair eluded me till incuba- 
tion was far advanced, by selecting a distant 
and secluded part of the swamp and an incon- 
spicuous tree as the nesting site, but I found 
it all the same at last, and here my triumphs 
ended for a long period. Early in 1882 there 
Las a iroticeable flight of Sharp-shinned 
jHawks in this vicinity dirring a mild spell iir 
[February, a severe cold wave following shortly 
jafter. The early migrants were straitened for 
[susteirance and fell easy victims to the gunner ; 
ieven the inexpert felt his duty call to hunt a 
Hawk, though the smallest possible in size, 
and several were brought me as curiosities, 
one that chased a Sparrow iirto a house and 
another in a neighbor’s barn. 
Since that period, from whatever cause, tiie 
species has been decidedly rare here, so much 
so that some of the intervening years have 
passed withoirt the observation of a single 
specimen iir the whole twelve months. But 
in 1891, as the spring advanced, an occasional 
little Accipiter went glancing by and led me to 
look again toward the old haunts. Thither as I 
passed up the old road one May-day, far away 
flying over the forest I spied a little Hawk 
bearing something in its talons, and this re- 
minded me what I had long ago observed, that 
the female of most species of Hawks, if not all, 
cling tenaciously to tlie nest during the ireriod 
of incubation at least, and that the male was a 
irersisteirt hunter and firrnished the commis- 
sariat. I saw that little fellow as he disap- 
peared in a distant part of the swamp, and 
thither at the first opportunity I followed, and 
there in the darkest recesses I was again wel- 
comed with the almost forgotten salutation, 
kil-dy, kil-dy, kil-dy. I found the nest at last, 
but it was a long hunt. In a thick-topped 
cedar there seemed a dark spot ; I struck the 
trunk of the tree with a stick but there was 
no resporrse, and again with greater violence, 
and the female Hawk came dashing out of 
the tree top with loud outcries in which the 
male, appearing on the scene, immediately 
joined, the loudest of the pair. 
This nest was about twenty-five feet from 
the ground and composed entirely of small 
twigs. It contained four eggs with incubation 
already well begun. This was on the first day 
of June. The set is very dillerent from that 
first found, an I which I have always retained in 
my collection as one of my most highly prized 
captures. In them the markings are chiefly 
large, bold, lieavy blotches, in one instance 
on the smaller end. The new set are more of 
the clouded pattern, the coloration more uni- 
formly distributed and lighter. The size of 
the eggs is also less, and if dissimilarity is any 
sign these must belong to an entirely different 
bird. For diversity of marking and general 
variation as well as beauty, I think that the 
eggs of the Sharp-shinned Hawk take 
the lead, and that a well selected and 
arranged series thereof would be one of the 
greatest attractions in a collector’s cabinet. 
John A. Clark. 
Saybrook, Conn. 
[I can fully endorse what Judge Clark says 
about the beauty of a series of sets of eggs 
of this bird. A series of twenty-three sets 
now before me shows an almost endless varia- 
tion in coloration and markings, and yet there 
is not aji uglvset among them. — J. P. A.l 
0 .& <y. Vol.l7,I^b.l892 p, 27-28 
