30 FALCONID^. 



lie quits his perch, then selecting his victim, and pouncing 

 on it all but simultaneously, he retires to devour his meal 

 and to return to his post as soon as the hubbub he has 

 excited has subsided somewhat. At times he pays dear 

 for his temerity. Pouncing on a bird which the sportsman 

 has put up and missed, he receives the contents of the 

 second barrel : making a swoop on the bird-catchers' call- 

 bird, he becomes entangled in the meshes ; or dashing 

 through a glazed window at a caged Canary-bird, he finds 

 his retreat cut off. 



As is the case with most predaceous birds, the female 

 is larger and bolder than the male, and will attack birds 

 superior to herself in size. Though a fierce enemy, she 

 is an affectionate mother, and will defend her young at 

 the risk of her life. She builds her nest, or appropriates 

 the deserted nest of a Crow, in trees, or if they be wanting, 

 in a cliff, and lays four or five eggs. The young are very 

 voracious, and are fed principally on small birds, the number 

 of which consumed may be inferred from the fact that no 

 less than sixteen Larks, Sparrows, and other small birds, 

 were on one occasion found in a nest, the female parent 

 belonging to which had been shot while conveying to them 

 a young bird just brought to the neighbourhood of the 

 nest by the male ; the latter, it was conjectured, having 

 brought them all, and deposited them in the nest in the 

 interval of nine hours which had elapsed between their 

 discovery and the death of his partner. 



The Sparrow-hawk is found in most wooded districts of 

 Great Britain and Ireland, and the greater part of the 

 Eastern Continent. 



