366 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
AMERICAN SPAIIIIOW-HAWK, (Falco sparverius.) 
Engraved for the American Agriculturist. 
The above engraving presents specimens of a 
bird which will be at once recognised by most if 
not all of our American readers, as it abounds in 
all the northern Slates and Territories, and is 
found, we believe in all the southern States The 
true name, Sparrow Hawk, (Falco sparverius), is 
adopted in some localities, but so far as we have 
observed, it is more frequently called the Chicken 
Hawk, or Pigeon Hawk. The female is about 11 
inches long from beak to end of tail, and meas¬ 
ures nearly two feet from tip to tip of the - Wings 
when fully expanded. The wings are longer and 
stronger in proportion to the size of the body, 
than those of the common hen-hawk. The male 
bird is a little smaller than the female. 
The head is a bluish ash color, with a reddish 
crown. Around the head is a whitish border con¬ 
taining seven black spots. The back is a red¬ 
dish bay with cross stripes of black. The under¬ 
side of the body is yellowish white, streaked with 
brown. The quill feathers of the wings are 
black, spotted with white; those of the tail are 
reddish bay, with a broaa 
black band near the end, 
and a yellowish white 
tip. The two outer tail 
feathers are nearly white. 
These different colors 
give a beautifully varie¬ 
gated plumage. The beak 
or bill is light blue, tip¬ 
ped with black ; the legs 
yellow, and the claws 
blue-black. The male and 
female are much alike. 
The sparrow-h a w k 
constructs its nest in a 
high hollow or crotch of 
a tree, usually where 
some branch has been 
broken off, in which are 
deposited four to five 
eggs of brownish yellow 
color, dark tinted. Wil¬ 
son, the great American 
Ornithologist, who de¬ 
voted his life to the 
study of the birds of this 
country,gives an animat¬ 
ed account of the Spar¬ 
row-hawk, which will 
please every reader. He 
says: “... .It flies rather 
irregularly, occasional¬ 
ly suspending itself in 
the air, hovering over a 
particular spot fora min¬ 
ute or two, and then 
shooting off in another 
direction. It perches on 
the top of a dead tree or 
pole, in the middle of a 
field or meadow, and, as 
it alights, shuts its long 
wings so suddenly, that 
they seem instantly to 
disappear; it sits here in 
an almost perpendicular 
position, sometimes for 
an hour at a time, fre¬ 
quently jerking its tail, 
and reconnoitering the 
ground below, in every 
direction, for mice, liz¬ 
ards, etc. It approach¬ 
es the farm-house—par¬ 
ticularly in the morning 
—skulking about the 
barn yard for mice or 
young chickens. It fre¬ 
quently plunges into a 
thicket afier small birds, 
as if by random ; but al¬ 
ways with a particular 
and generally with a fa¬ 
tal aim. One day I ob¬ 
served a bird of this spe¬ 
cies perched on the highest top of a poplar, on the 
skirts of the wood, and was in the act of raising 
my gun to my eye, when he swept down with the 
rapidity of an arrow into a thicket of briers, about 
thirty yards off, where I shot him dead, and or 
coming up. found a small field-sparrow quivering 
in his grasp. Both our aims had been taken at 
the same instant, and, unfortunately for him, 
both were fatal. It is particularly fond of watch¬ 
ing along hedge rows and in orchards, where 
small birds usually resort. 'When grasshoppers 
