640 Letters, Extracts, and Notes. [Ibis, 



Nesting of the Sparrow-Hawk. 



Sir, — I have i-ead with great pleasure Mr. E. Stuart 

 Baker's interesting paper on the Nesting of some Indian 

 Sparrow-Havvks. I hope he will not mind my criticising 

 a statement he makes on p. 352 o£ the July number of 

 'The Ibis/ In the second paragraph he states: "Like 

 its nearest relation, the English Sparrow-Hawk, this little 

 Hawk nearly always, if not invariably, uses the deserted 

 nest of another bir.d in which to lay its eggs/' My ex- 

 perience of our Sparrow-Hawk is that it always builds 

 its own nest, and never appropriates that o£ any other bird. 

 It builds an extremely suitable nest for its requirements, 

 and only uses it once ; and although the same pair — or if 

 one of them be lost, a pair — will resort to the same part 

 of a wood for many years for purposes of nesting, a new 

 nest is invariably built. The Kestrel will use an old 

 Sparrow-Hawk's nest occasionally, and on several occasions 

 I have had one sitting within jfifty yards of a Sparrow- 

 Hawk who had built that nest the year before, and I once 

 knew a Hobby use an old Sparrow-Hawk's nest, but it 

 must be extremely unusual for a Sparrow-Hawk to use 

 the deserted nest of another bird. I find by my notes 

 I have recorded no fewer than 481 cases of Sparrow-Hawks 

 building their own nests, and not one to the contrary. 

 I think my experience is borne out by many others. On 

 one occasion we had three Sparrow- Hawks' nests in one 

 tree, not built in successive years, but the work of on.e 



pair of birds. 



Yours truly, 

 Hever Warren, E. Gr. B. Meade-Waldo. 



Hever, Kent. 

 8 September, 1917. 



Nesting in Macedonia. 

 The following extract from a letter and a list of nests 

 and eggs obtained in Macedonia has been received from 

 Col. G. van H. Clarke, M.B.O.U., and is dated June 3, 1917. 



