Tiercel ; and the Sparrow-hawk did not attempt to carry, but held on his way. I jumped down and picked
up the body o f the Lark and the head, the two being entirely disunited. The velocity and force of the stoop
must have been tremendous. I have often seen Grouse and Partridges ripped up the back and neck, and
the skull laid bare ; but I never saw a head taken clean off before.”
With what spirit and daring does this bird pursue its victims ! In the instance described by Mr. Hammond,
the stoop was made close to his horse's head ; but I have heard of a Sparrow-hawk pursuing a Finch between
the legs of a man, where it had flown for shelter ; and in the course of my life I have known many instances
o f its dashing through or killing itself against a pane o f glass in pursuit of a bird, or when flying at a caged
bird within.
The following characteristic note on the habits of the bird is from the Rev. J . C. Atkinson's ‘ British
Birds and their Nests’:—
" I f you hear some careful housewife of a hen skirling and fussing, in dire alarm, her terrified chicks the
while seeking any possible shelter, you may he almost certain that the gliding form you cffiight a glance of
rounding the corner o f the barn was a Sparrow-hawk, and that some hapless Dove or Chicken has lost the
number of his mess. Not that he does not like wild game as well as tame poultrv. Mr. Selby mentions
one nest containing five young ones, in or close to which were found a Peewit, two" Blackbirds, a Thrush,
and two Greenfinches, all fresh and half-plucked.”
The nest of the Sparrow-hawk is placed on high trees or on the ledges o f rocks, according to circumstances
and it not nnfrequently adopts the flattened-down nest of a Crow or a Magpie. The eggs are bluish white
very beautifully blotched and marked with umbre and light reddish brown. Mr. Hewitson remarks that “ thé
eggs, though usually very readily distinguished from those o f any o ther speeies, are subject to varieties which
sometimes rather resemble those o f the Kestrel, but are never marked with the same rich colouring. There
are some specimens on which all the markings are very obscure and indistinct, and others in which the dark
blotches o f colour are a t the smaller instead o f the larger end. I know o f no other egg which is so subject
to this variety.”
The young, for the first fortnight o f their existence, are clothed with a greyish-white down, and it is while
they are m the nest that the parents are so destructive; on which subject I append a note written by Mr.
Weir to the late Mr. Macgillivray, and published in his ‘History o f British Birds,' vol. iii. p. 3 5 9 .
" In one of the plantations on Boghead, for several years past, a pair o f Sparrow-hawks have reared
their young, either in the deserted nest of the Carrion-crow or Magpie. They were uncommonly bold,
and with the rapidity o f an arrow skimmed over the ground. Amongst Partridges, Pigeons, and other
smaller birds they committed great destruction; with almost unerring aim, they pounced upon their prey
From a hut, formed o f the branches o f trees, I watched for several hours the habits o f a pair o f these
voracious birds whilst they were engaged in feeding their young, which were nearly half-fledged During
the time that I remained at it, the female continued to sit upon them. The male, at shorter or longer
intervals, alighted upon the top o f a tree, at the distance o f about forty yards from the nest, with a bird in
his talons. The female always took it from him, and divided it amongst her nestlings. Sometimes he
arrived with a Blackbird or a Thrush, but more frequently with a Lark, a Yellow Bunting, or a Chaffinch
Being anxious to know whether the male is in the habit o f feeding his offspring, I one morning, in a place
of concealment, watched another pair o f them for four or five hours. The male always alighted, as in the
former case, upon the top of a tree at some distance from the nest, with a bird in his claws, and called upon
his mate, who came and caught hold o f it in her bill. I shot her as she was carrying it to her young.
About nine o clock in the morning I went home. At six in the evening I returned with a boy, who climbed
the tree to see what was in the nest. He had no sooner looked into it, than with astonishment he
■ H I , ' Ü H p00'' Ilttle thlngs are SasPinS-' Thef were‘ in fact, almost suffocated by the
dead birds about them. He threw down no less than sixteen, amongst which were Larks, Yellow Buntings
Hedge-sparrows, and Green Linnets. I took home the young, which were four in number. They seemed
not to have been fed during the day, as they were exceedingly hungry. In these two instances it would
seem that the male bird provided the food, but did not give it to his family. Whether this is always the
casewith the Sparrow-hawk, I cannot ascertain until I have had further opportunities of observing their
The Sparrow-hawk enjoys a wide range over the face o f the earth, being found in all parts o f Europe
except the extreme north, in Northern Africa, Persia, in all the hilly parts of India, where it is highly prised
by the natives for falconry, and ,s employed to capture Partridges, Quails, Coursers, and Sandgrouse ; and
Mr Swinboe states that ,t ,s found from Canton to the Amoor, and also in Japan. My son, the late Dr.
John Henry Gould sent me fine male specimens o f this bird from Scinde, which on comparison with
examples killed in this country presented no appreciable difference
The Plate represents an adult male of the natural size, while the reduced figure is that o f an old female
in the act of seizing a Sparrow from the ivy-clad wall of a garden.