Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1944-01-08
This and That
By Charles E. Truce1DeU.

In nearby Virginia sparrow hawk
came 10 window feeding station re-
Gently
This is most unusual
Usually the visits of these beautiful
little hawks are accompanied by the
death of some smaller bird.
1t is seldom that this best of the
hawks comes to eat anything else
1t would not eat seed or grain so
there must have been some suet on the
feeding board.
Probably few friends OF birds are
immune to the charm of this hawk.
just as there are charming people,
who some way win ones approval de-
spite anything they do, so there are
birds which do the same thing.
Perhaps every observer would call the
chickadee charming, but certainly there
is no other hawk which would merit
that word.
The sparrow hawk, despite it's name,
seldom eats sparrows 1t will get one,
now and then, but mostly catches mice
and insects
"Windhover" is one of the common
names of the bird.
Kitty hawk is another
This is our smallest bird of prey, being
about II inches long His wing spread,
however, is considerable as in most
hawks. This will make him seem much
larger to the inexperienced eye than he
really is.
This 'grasshopper hawk" as he is
called in some sections of the country,
is sort of cinnamon-red above and pale
rusty and white below.
This is really beautiful creature, one
which has often been made a pet In
the days of falconry, this hawk was
carried by priest.
Every class in society had its hawk.
Royalty alone carried the gyrfalcon An
earl carried the peregrine falcon,
yeoman the goshawk, and a servant the
kestrel
We have always thought that the
priests had the best of it, because the
sparrow hawk is really the beauty of
the family.
The pigeon hawk, while officially
measuring no larger, is a much more
stocky bird. The females of this species
total Is inches long. This is the general
rule among hawks, the female is always
the largest, except in the sparrow hawks.
X X
lowering of a sparrow hawk over a
field is one of its best feats. 1t was from
this action that it got the name wind
hover"
Looking for mice and grasshoppers,
they seem to stand still in the air for
many minutes.
A look through binoculars will show
that the hawk is beating his wings at
a lively rate. This is an action which
most persons think only the humming-
bird can perform.
Generally, sparrow hawks are not well
come guests at bird feeding station.
They seldom come for any other purpose
than to snatch small bird
Yet in all fairness to this hawk, it
must be insisted that their annual take"
of songbirds is very small.
1t is far better to watch this bird
when one gets chance, than to shoot it.
Certainly there is enough shooting
going on in the world today, without
any one taking pot shot at the more
or less harmless sparrow hawk.
IT it can be captured alive, it makes
very good pet.
It is necessary to see this bird at close
range If one wishes to see it in all its
true beauty Then the mixture of
colors, and the clean white, make
combination which somehow has vivid
ness not always given to our native
birds. Yes, let us keep in mind that the
sparrow hawk is one of "our native
birds" For hawk, it is really very
fine fellow.
There is in Florida a sparrow hawk
which is slightly smaller than the bird
which is an all-the-year- around resident
hereabouts. The Florida form, as If to
gid the lily, is called the 'little sparrow
hawk"