are heard the feathered choristers of the woods, who throng towards more
congenial climes, and in their rear rushes the Sparrow-Hawk.
Its flight is rather irregular, nor can it be called protracted. It flies
over a field, but seldom farther at a time; even in barren lands, a few
hundred yards are all the extent it chooses to go before it alights. During
the love season alone it may be seen sailing for half an hour, which
1S>I believe, the longest time I ever saw one on the wing. When chasing
a bird, it passes along with considerable celerity, but never attains the
speed of the Sharp-shinned Hawk or of other species. When teazing an
Eagle or a Turkey Buzzard, its strength seems to fail in a few minutes,
and if itself chased by a stronger hawk, it soon retires into some thicket
for protection. Its migrations are pursued by day, and with much apparent
nonchalance.
The cry of this bird so much resembles that of the European Kestrel,
to which it seems allied, that, were it rather stronger in intonation, it
might be mistaken for it. At times it emits its notes while perched, but
principally when on the wing, and more continually before and after the
birth of its young, the weaker cries of which it imitates when they have
left the nest and follow their parents.
The Sparrow Hawk does not much regard the height of the place in
which it deposits its eggs, provided it be otherwise suitable, but I never saw
it construct a nest for itself. It prefers the hole of a Woodpecker, but now
and then is satisfied with an abandoned crow's nest. So prolific is it, that
I do not recollect having ever found fewer than five eggs or young in the
nest, and, as I have already said, the number sometimes amounts to seven.
The eggs are nearly globular, of a deep buff-colour, blotched all over with
dark brown and black. This Hawk sometimes raises two broods in the season,
in the Southern States, where in fact it may be said to be a constant
resident; but in the Middle and Eastern States, seldom if ever more than
one. Nay, I have thought that in the South the eggs of a laying are more
numerous than in the North, although of this I am not quite certain.
So much attached are they to their stand, that they will return to it
and sit there by preference for months in succession. My friend BACHMAN
informed me that, through this circumstance, he has caught as many
as seven in the same field, each from its favourite stump.
Although the greater number of these Hawks remove southward at
the approach of winter, some remain even in the State of New York du-
AMERICAN SPARROW-HAWK. 249
ring the severest weather of that season. These keep in the immediate
neighbourhood of barns, where now and then they secure a rat or a mousi>
for their support. Sometimes this species is severely handled by the larger
Hawks. One of them who had caught a Sparrow, and was flying off with
it, was suddenly observed by a Red-tailed Hawk, which in a few minutes
made it drop its prey : this contented the pursuer and enabled the pursued
to escape.
THEODORE LINCOLN, Esq. of Dennisville, Maine, informed me that
the Sparrow-Hawk is in the habit of attacking the Republican Swallow,
while sitting on its eggs, deliberately tearing the bottle-neck-like entrance
of its curious nest, and seizing the occupant for its prey. This is as fit
a place as any to inform you, that the father of that gentleman, who has
resided at Dennisville upwards of forty years, found the swallow just
mentioned abundant there, on his arrival in that then wild portion of the
country.
In the Floridas the Sparrow-Hawk pairs as early as February, in the
Middle States about April, and in the northern parts of Maine seldom before
June. Few are seen in Nova Scotia, and none in Newfoundland, or on
the western coast of Labrador. Although abundant in the interior of East
Florida, I did not observe one on any of the keys which border the coast
of that singular peninsula. During one of my journeys down the Mississippi,
I frequently observed some of these birds standing on low dead
branches over the water, from which they would pick up the beetles that
had accidentally fallen into the stream.
No bird can be more easily raised and kept than this beautiful HaAvk.
I once found a young male that had dropped from the nest before it was
able to fly. Its cries for food attracted my notice, and I discovered it
lying near a log. It was large, and covered with soft white down,
through which the young feathers protruded. Its little blue bill and yet
grey eyes made it look not unlike an owl. I took it home, named it
Nero, and provided it with small birds, at which it would scramble fiercely,
although yet unable to tear their flesh, in which I assisted it. In a few
weeks it grew very beautiful, and became so voracious, requiring a great
number of birds daily, that I turned it out, to see how it would shift for
itself. This proved a gratification to both of us: it soon hunted for grasshoppers
and other insects, and on returning from my walks I now and then
threw a dead bird high in the air, which it never failed to perceive from
its stand, and towards which it launched with such quickness as sometimes