ORNITHOLOGIST 
-A^ B- 
OOLOGIST. 
81.00 per 
Annum. 
Joseph M. Wade, Editor and Publisher. 
Established, March, 1875 
Single Copy, 
10 Cents. 
VOL. VI. 
NORWICH, CONN., FEBRUARY, 1882. 
NO. 12. 
Sharp Shinned Hawk. 
The true Falcons do rot often grace New 
London County with their royal presence. 
Not since April, 1878, has a Pigeon Hawk 
betn shot here, and a single Sparrow 
Hawk’s egg is all I have to show locally 
for six.years’ collecting. But the third of 
the trio of small New England Hawks is 
more abundant, and can be found in early 
summer in sufficient numbers to stimulate 
search for its lovely eggs. It is not the ob¬ 
ject of the present sketch to give a mono¬ 
graph of this little Accipiter, but to present 
an array of homely facts concerning its 
breeding habits, some (f which may be 
fresh and of interest to our rising oologists. 
It seems to have been ordained that eve¬ 
ry male biped of the genus-homo should at 
an early age get up a collection (?) but be¬ 
fore he makes war upon aught but common 
species, and before his movements are gov¬ 
erned by much intelligence, the same or¬ 
daining power wisely directs his young am¬ 
bition into newer charnels and the embryo 
cabinet is banished to the garret or de¬ 
scends to the tender mercies ot the young¬ 
er brother just coming down with the fever. 
The Buteos and Owls get off scot free from 
these collectors, who are ignorant of the 
early breeding movement, but the luckless 
Sharp Shinned begins to lay when other 
Hawks are nearly through breeding and 
when the woods are swarming with school- 
lx)ys. For these reasons this Hawk and its 
eggs are better known than any others to 
young observers, and the omniferous boxes 
of sawdust and undetermined eggs can 
boast many a single end-blown specimen 
of this species. Six years ago, in June, a 
nesting place of this Hawk, on Laurel Hill, 
was dis'.-overed by these vandals, and 
fifteen eggs thus barbarously blown and 
scattered found their way into a round doz¬ 
en so-called “ collections.” 
A fuscus breeds in hemlock clumps and 
in pine groves, at limes near houses, and 
nests in deciduous trees only when there are 
no evergreens near the favorite hunting- 
ground or local habitat—then a thick and 
leafy white or yellow birch offers a favorite 
site. At the base of a limb, resting against 
the trunk of the tree the nest is generally 
jjlaced. In a hemlock have found it sever¬ 
al times not fifteen f et from the ground, 
and in a young pine have taken one not 
eight feet high. The nest is composed 
wholly of small sticks, no lining whatever 
being added—the slight bowl showing finer 
sticks than the outside. A. fuscus builds 
more new nests than any other Hawk with 
which I am arijuainted, rarely using an old 
one. The collector may sometimes grow 
weary waiting for the first nest to be fin¬ 
ished, as it is not unusual for a pair to leis¬ 
urely occupy more than two weeks in nidi- 
fication. But when the nest is torn down 
before ovipositing is complete a new one 
will be thrown together in thirty-six hours. 
The nest can be easily found when building, 
or when the eggs are being laid, by any ob¬ 
server straying near, for the scolding of 
both male and temale will surely betray it. 
We often find among small birds nests with 
two or three cold eggs—incomplete clutch¬ 
es with no parent near; but after laying the 
first egg. Hawks go hunting singly, one of 
the pair being always at home on guard. 
Buteos will sit upon the side of the nest and 
not “ hover” the eggs till the clutch is com- 
