34 
BY THE WAYSIDE. 
One tiling more remains to be said about 
these city hawks. For three succeeding years 
1 have seen them in town about the middle 
of June; and last year I saw them there in 
August, and again in September. I do not 
think they make their nests in the city; but 
it seems that when the nesting time is past 
and the little hawks have learned to care for 
themselves, the parents make visits fi om time 
to time to their winter quarters. 
I want to say a good word for the sparrow- 
hawk. I have no doubt that it is a common 
idea that sparrow-hawks are called sparrow- 
hawks because they kill and eat sparrows. 
That is not the reason for the name. Many 
years ago, in England and France, hawks of 
various kinds were trained to catch and kill 
birds and small animals; this kind of hunt¬ 
ing was called “hawking,” and the training of 
the hawks was called “falconry.” The sport 
was as great a pastime as gunning is to-day. 
Different kinds of hawks came to be known 
as “duck hawks,” “goshawks,” etc., because 
they were used to capture ducks or geese or 
other birds or animals. After this custom in 
naming, the smallest hawk of all was called 
“sparrow-hawk” because it was flown at spar¬ 
rows and other small birds. All this came 
about vears before America was discovered by 
Europeans. When our own country became 
settled, people naturally gave to the plants and 
animals of the new world the familiar names of 
like animals and plants of the old world. Thus 
our robin got its name, though as a matter 
of fact the European robin is a very different 
bird; and thus our smallest hawk was called 
“sparrow-hawk,” and the name has stuck, 
though naturalists find that the European spar¬ 
row-hawk resembles other American hawks 
more closely than it resembles our sparrow- 
hawk. It is said that sometimes our sparrow- 
hawk kills small birds. I have never seen one do 
this; but by far the greater part of his diet is 
of mice and grasshoppers. Instead of being 
destroyed because people think they kill birds 
—as they seldom or never do—sparrow-hawks 
should not be harmed, for they are very useful 
in killing vermin and farm pests. 
Letters about the sparrow-hawk should be 
mailed by October 1. 
Prizes and Badges. 
The honor badges are won this month by 
Olga Lier, York, Wis., and Muriel Lampert, 
Btlvidere, Ill. 
in September a book will be given to the 
Wisconsin child who writes the best lettei 
about) what the birds are doing in August. 
The letters must be mailed by the first of 
September. On the first of October a year's 
subscription to Bird-Lore will be given for the 
best set of notes on birds made during the 
month of September. 
Secretary’s Letter. 
Dear Children. —What has become of all 
our little letter writers? Are they watching 
their little feathered neighbors so hard that 
there is no time left to write to the \\ ayside 
about them? I hope that is it, and that this 
fall as soon as we all get back from our va¬ 
cation trips we will remember about all those 
birds and nests that we saw during the sum¬ 
mer and will try to tell each other about them, 
for we are all interested in hearing what every¬ 
one else has seen. 
It is getting pretty late for nests and eggs 
now, but I have found some nests with young 
robins in them, and one nest in which a red 
eyed vireo lias laid her eggs and in which she 
hopes soon to have a little family hatched 
out. I wonder if you all know the red eyed 
vireo. This is a friendly little bird and lets 
me go very near to her while she is on the 
nest. The nest is built of fine grasses and 
rootlets, about three feet from the ground in 
a wild cherry tree, and woven carefully into 
the nest is some embroidery paper, such as 
comes on the inside edge of candy boxes. The 
little bird evidently intended to make her 
home pretty as well as useful. 
The red eye’s eggs are about 4-5 inches long 
and are a pinkish white with a few small brown 
spots on the larger end. 
Helen R. Scudder. 
Illinois Prize Letter. 
Notes from the bird world in Belvidere, Illi¬ 
nois, for March, April and May, 1903. 
March 3. The weather was warm like early 
May. Chickadees and blue jays and a brown 
creeper were seen eating some suet. 
March 10. My first robin was seen in a 
cedar tree in front of our house. 
March 13. Some junco’s were calling cheer- 
ily. 
March 16. I heard a bluebird, but, although 
I looked hard, I couldn’t see it. 
March 18. I heard a queer call note, and, 
after looking, I saw a juneo singing. This 
