No. 21, PENNSYLVANIA STATE COLLEGE. 255 
thirty-five feet from the ground, wherein were snugly packed five 
young, one of which L removed, when both old birds assailed me. 
They several times struck my head and arms with their talons and 
wings. So persistent were their attacks that J, desiring to obtain 
ihe young alive, directed a companion who stood nearby to shoot 
both birds. I have repeatedly taken the eggs and young of this 
bird but never, except in the above cited instance, encountered such 
determined opposition. 
When reared from the nest the Sparrow Hawk will soon become 
attached to its master. L raised two, which were given their free- 
dom. Both birds would come at my call and alight on my out- 
stretched arm or shoulders, anxiously wailing for a grasshopper 
or piece of meat, which was always their recompense. 
The farmer, fruit grower and sportsmen should learn the true 
value of this little hawk, as he is one of the most desirable feathered 
visitors and should not by even the most casual observer be mis 
taken for that destructive marauder the Sharp-shinned Llawk. The 
Sparrow Hawk preys to a very considerable extent on English spar- 
rows. 
The following quotations from Dr. A. K. Fisher’s work (Bull. No. 
3, U. S. Agr. Depart.), shows the great fondness this hawk has for 
insect food: “The subject of the food of this hawk is one of great 
interest, and considered in its economic bearings is one that should 
be carefully studied. The Sparrow Hawk is almost exclusively in- 
sectivorous, except when insect food is difficult to obtain. In local- 
ities where grasshoppers and crickets are abundant these hawks 
congregate, often in moderate sized flocks, and gorge themselves 
continuously. Rarely do they touch any other form of food until, 
either by the advancing season or other natural causes, the grass- 
hopper crop is so lessened that their hunger cannot be appeased 
without undue exertion. Then other kinds of insects and other 
forms of life contribute to their fare; and beetles, spiders, mice, 
shrews, small snakes, lizards or even birds may be required to bring 
up the balance. In some places in the west and south telegraph 
lines pass for miles through treeless plains and savannas; for lack of 
hetter perches the Sparrow Hawks often use these poles for resting 
places, from which they make short trips to pick up a grasshopper 
or mouse, which they carry back to their perch. At times, when 
grasshoppers are abundant, such a line of poles is pretty well oceu 
pied by these hawks. 
“A dozen or more stomachs collected by Mr. Charles W. Richmond, 
in Gallatin county, Mont., during the latter part of August and early 
part of September, 1888, * * * contained little else than grass- 
hoppers and crickets.” 
