194 
BIRDS OF NEW MEXICO 
valleys to the upper parts of the highest mountains, being common over all moun¬ 
tainous and timbered parts of the State, but the nests are made for the most part 
in the middle altitudes from 5,000 to 7,000 feet. [It is a common resident at Silver 
City, 5,800 feet, and eggs were taken April 21, 1927 (Kellogg).] It nests commonly 
at Mesilla, 3,800 feet (Merrill); nests with eggs were noted May 12,1913, at Cotton¬ 
wood Spring near Elephant Butte, and it is a common breeder at Fort Sumner 
4,200 feet (Ligon). Nests were found at Santa Rosa May 26, 1903, and at about 
6,500 feet on the Rio Mimbres, May, 1906; young out of the nest were being fed 
by the parents at Cuervo June 13, 1903, and at Glorieta July 7, 1903, while young 
were still in the nest in Pueblo Canyon July 15, 1904, at 7,000 feet (Bailey). The 
birds were seen under such conditions as to indicate breeding at Tres Piedras, Fort 
Wingate, Chloride, the base of the Capitan Mountains at about 6,500 feet, and on 
Mesa Yegua June 25, 1903, at 7,300 feet. 
After the nesting season near Koehler Junction, it was very abundant, July 28- 
October 24, 1913 (Kalmbach). In the fall it ranges to the top of the highest moun¬ 
tains; one was seen August 11, 1903, flying over Truchas Peak above 13,300 feet 
(Bailey). On September 15-16, 1914, one was noted in the valley of Luna (Gold¬ 
man), and in Union County at Perico, on October 26, two were seen; on October 27, 
one, and on November 5, 1893, several, after which none were seen (Seton); in other 
parts of the county several were seen November 5, 1915 (Ligon). [On August 28, 
1917, it was noted between Socorro and Albuquerque (Ligon); September 30, 1916, 
one was noted near Gallup; October 1, one at White Water Creek; October 4, another 
near Zuni (Skinner).] 
A few remain in the State through the winter, more commonly at the lower 
elevations as at Arroyo Seco (Surber), Espanola, 5,900 feet (Loring), San Andres 
Mountains (Gaut), Gila Forest Reserve (Ligon), and Mesilla (Merrill). In the vicin¬ 
ity of the Carlsbad Bird Reserve it was seen several times in January, 1915, and was 
noted in the winter of 1915-16 [and in December, 1916; on the Rio Grande Bird 
Reserve, two December 8, 1916 (Willett); and at Engle, one, December 6, 1918 
(Ligon)].—W. W. Cooke. 
Nest. —Usually in hollow trees, and often in old woodpecker holes but sometimes 
in holes in cut banks, cavities in cliffs, about buildings and in nesting boxes. Eggs: 
3 to 7, creamy white to rufous, usually buffy or yellowish brown, generally finely and 
evenly marked with shades of the ground color and blotched variously with browns. 
Food. —In summer mainly grasshoppers and crickets—one stomach contained 21 
grasshoppers and July 28-October 4, in Colfax County, 90 per cent of the food was 
grasshoppers (Kalmbach)—when these are not available, ants, beetles, and other 
insects, snakes, lizards, small mammals such as mice (in winter, mainly mice) and 
gophers, also occasionally wild birds or young chickens. In the Zuni Mountains, in 
July, the stomachs examined by Mr. Hollister “were crammed with small grass¬ 
hoppers and black crickets and in one case a large cicada” (MS). 
General Habits. —An adult male Desert Sparrow Hawk is an 
individual bird. When seen looking out of his nest hole in a tree trunk 
his black cheek stripes show well, and when standing on a fence post 
in the sun his blue and rufous head and back make a handsome combina¬ 
tion. Even the nestlings have bright touches of color, for while the iris 
is brown, the skin around the eye is lemon-yellow, and the cere, legs and 
feet are also yellow. 
The name Sparrow Hawk is a misnomer as Mr. Preble says, probably 
applied by the early English colonists “ because of its fancied resemblance 
