ANECDOTE. 69 



force of tlie swoop was so great that for a moment 

 he imagined a stone, hurled from a distance, to 

 have been the canse of the fracture. On dissecting 

 the bird, I found that there was a good deal of ex- 

 travasated blood on the upper surface of both lobe^ 

 of the brain and around the optic nerves, the eyes 

 being also much suffused, but no portion of the 

 body or limbs presented any marks of violence, 

 except a slight laceration of the alular feathers on 

 one wing and the plumage of the breast. 



I have already alluded to the destructive habits 

 of the sparrowhawk : the depredations of this little 

 tyrant of our woods and groves certainly surpass 

 those of any other British bird of prey, in propor- 

 tion to its size ; and unfortunately, as I have said, 

 many of our rarer and comparatively harmless 

 birds are compelled to suffer for its misdeeds.* 



* The cuckoo, as every one knows, bears a strong 

 resemblance to the male sparrowhawk at a distance — 

 its general form and manner of flight being very simi- 

 lar — when the beak and feet are not seen. In a remote 

 part of Sussex I once encountered a native who exer- 

 cised the double calling of bailiff and " varmint "-killer, 

 and who, on my remonstrating with him for having 

 shot and crucified so many innocent cuckoos, assured 

 me very gravely that, although those birds were called 

 cuckoos throughout the summer, they became hawks in 

 the winter, the bill and claws gradually assuming the 

 true falconine character. This was near the coast. 



