NESTS AXD EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. g 



8. — ACCIPITEK CIRUHOCEPUALUS, Vicillot. — (I'J) 



SPARROW HAWK. 



Figure. — Gould; Birds ol Australia, (ol.. vol. i., pi. 19. 



Rejtrcme. — Cat. birds Brit. Mus., vol. i.,p. 141. 



Previous Dcicriptioiii oj Eg^s. — Gould : Birds of Australia (iS^b), also 



Handbook, vol. i., p. 40 (1505); Kainsay ; i'roc. Linn, ijoc, 



N.S. Wales, vol. vii., pp. 53 and 413 (ibSi) ; North: Austn. 



Mus. Cat. pi. 2, fig. 6 (ibbyj , Campbell; I'roc. Austn. .\ssoc 



vol. vi., p. 423 (ib95). 



(.ituijrapliical Distribution. — Australia in gciici'al, Tasmania, and New 

 Giiiucii. 



Stst. — Somotimes lai'go, at otliur timos sntall, couslruclud ol' slicks and 

 twigs, lined inside with libions material or eucaiypt leaves, and situated 

 in the forked brauelies of a tree usually growing ue;u' water. Frequently 

 the uost of another bird of prey is used. 



Eytjs. — Clutch, three to foui'; rouuchsh m shape; textuie of shell com- 

 paratively hne, with siuface lustreless; colour, white, with a bluish or 

 greenish tiuge, devoid of markings, but more freijueutly sUiincd with airt 

 from the nest diuing incubation, while other examples possess a few 

 blotches or spots of d;uk-browu. Dimensions in inches of a proper 

 clutch: (1) 1-53 X 1-21, (2) 1-51 x 123, (3) lol x 1-20. (Plate i.j 



Ul/seruatiuns. — This is the smallest of Australian llawks; but for a 

 bold and fearless disposition, rapidity of flight, abrupt tm-uiug, and 

 unerruig ;iim at luckless prey, the httle Sp;UTow ilawk far excels many 

 of its ku'ger compeers. However, the incidents of its attacking a White- 

 fronted Heron, decapitating a BusUud, &c., alluded to in my papers before 

 the Austrahau Association, I regret to say 1 unfortunately luisunderslood 

 my iuforni;iuts. These wonderful feats of daring should have been referable 

 to the tUisliing Little Falcon, a biid shuilar in size to the Sparrow Hawk. 



Mr. Hermauu Lau, formerly of South Queensland, furnishes us with 

 the remarkable fact of the Greiit Cuckoo or Channel Bill (ScytlirupaJ 

 depositing its egg iu the nest of a Sparrow Hawk, or a nest, at all events, 

 where the Sparrow Hawk had laid. In September, 1874, near Yandilla, 

 he found a Hawk's nest, winch was situated liigh in the branches of a 

 tree. It contained two eggs neai'ly incubated, but, to his intense surprise, 

 one was evidently the large piu-plish-brown egg of the Channel Bill, or, 

 as it is called in the interior, the " Rain Biid. 



One of Mr. G. A. Kcartlands held notes during the progress of the 

 Calvert Expedition in North-west Australia is as follows ; " Along the 

 Fitzroy iuid Mai-garet Rivers and their brandies these bold little buds were 

 met with. Ne;u- our camp, in January, 1 was sui-prised to see a small male 

 bird attacking a pair of Rosc-breiisted Cockatoos. The Cockatoos had 

 selected the holloNy branch of a tree for their nest, and wliilst they were 

 tiimmiiig the entrance to their futui-e domicile, the Hawk made frequent 

 swoops at them, knocking out biuiches of feathers, and causuig the 

 Cockatoos, which were more than twice his weight, to cry out with jwin. 

 This battle was continued for some time, and was eventually terminated 



