Crow, in which the female deposits four or five eggs, each
about one inch seven lines long, by one inch four lines broad,
of a pale bluish white, blotched and spotted with dark red
brown. The young are covered with a delicate and pure
white down, and are abundantly supplied with food. Mr.
Selby mentions having found a nest of five young Sparrow-
Hawks which contained besides, a Lapwing, two Blackbirds,
one Thrush, and two Green Linnets, recently killed, and
partly divested of their feathers.
The Sparrow-Hawk is common in most of the counties
of England, and has been observed in the west and north
of Ireland; it occurs also in Scotland and its northern islands.
It inhabits Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Russia, and from
thence southward over the European continent to Spain and
Italy. Mr. Strickland observed it as far south as Smyrna ;
and M. Temminck has recorded it as occurring as far to the
eastward as Japan.
The adult male measures about twelve inches in length;
the beak blue, lightest at the base ; the cere greenish yellow,
the irides yellow ; the top of the head, nape of the neck,
back, wings, and wing-coverts, rich dark brown,—in very old
males with a tinge of bluish grey; feathers of the tail greyish
brown, with three conspicuous transverse bands of dark
brown ; the chin, cheeks, throat, breast, belly, thighs, and
under tail-coverts, rufous, with numerous transverse bars of
darker rufous brown: legs and toes long, slender, and yellow ;
the claws curved, sharp, and black.
The female is generally three inches longer than the male;
the beak bluish horn colour; cere yellowish, the irides yellow ;
the top of the head, upper part of the neck, back, wing, and
tail-coverts, brown,—the base of many of the feathers white,
which extending beyond the edge of the feather immediately
above it, causes a white spot or mark ; primaries and tail-feathers
light brown, barred transversely with darker brown;
under surface of the neck, body, wing-coverts, and thighs,
greyish white, barred transversely with brown ; under surface
of the wing and tail feathers of the same colour, but the light
and dark bars much broader; the first six wing-primaries
emarginated ; the fourth and fifth quill-feathers equal and the
longest, the first quill-feather the shortest; the legs and toes
yellow ; the claws long, curved, sharp, and black.
The young male Sparrow-Hawk resembles the female;
but the brown feathers of the back and the wing-coverts are
edged with reddish brown ; feathers of the tail reddish brown,
particularly toward the base, with three conspicuous dark
brown transverse bands. In other particulars like the female ;
and both have a collar formed by a mixture of white and
brown, which extends from the sides of the neck to the nape.
VOL. I.