454 AVES— HAWK. 



belly are white, with a number of wavy lines or bars of black; the tail is 

 long, of an ash color, and crossed with four or five dusky bars ; the legs are 

 yellow, and the claws black; the wings are much shorter than the tail. — It 

 feeds on mice and small birds, and eagerly devours raw flesh ; it plucks the 

 birds very neatly, and tears them into pieces before it eats them, but swal- 

 lows the pieces entire ; and frequently disgorges the hair rolled up in small 

 pellets. 



The goshawk is found in France and Germany ; it is not very numerous 

 in England, but is more frequent in Scotland, where it breeds in lofty trees, 

 and destroys large quantities of game. It is also common in Russia, and 

 Siberia, There is in Chinese Tartary a variety which is mottled with 

 brown and yellow, and is used for sporting by the nobility. 



THE SPARROW-HAWK.* 



This bird is somewhat larger than a common pigeon, the male being about 

 twelve inches in length, and the female fifteen. It has a short hooked blue 

 bill, with yellow cere, slender reddish legs, and rather a long tail. The 

 color of the eye is a bright orange. The plumage on the wings and upper 

 parts of the body is brown, spotted with yellowish dun ; the lower parts in 

 some are whitish ; in others of a russet color. 



The sparrowhawk is very numerous in various parts of the world, from 

 Russia to the Cape of Good Hope. The female builds in high rocks, lofty 

 ruins, or hollow trees, but will sometimes condescend to take up with the 

 old nest of a crow. Four or five is the number of eggs which she lays, and 

 they are marked with reddish spots at the longer end. The sparrowhawk 

 is more easily trained and made docile than most of the rapacious tribes, 

 and when domesticated it is susceptible of great attachment to its owner. 

 In its wild state it commits enormous havoc among the smaller race of birds, 

 and it is an object of particular dislike to the farmer, as it sometimes makes 

 destructive visits to the poultry yard, and is so daring that it is not to b« 

 intimidated from the pursuit of its prey even by the presence of mankind. 



1 Falco nlsus, Lin. 



