228 SPARROW HAWK. 



birds — Sparrows, Greenfinches, Linnets, etc. — and it is 

 also a terrible marauder amongst the Pheasant coops 

 and the farmer's Hen coops. In this it differs from the 

 Kestrel, which prefers to these such small animals as 

 mice and moles. When in search of its prey, the 

 flight of the Sparrow Hawk is marvellously swift ; it 

 skims along close to the ground under shelter of some 

 hedgerow or fence, and little chance has any small 

 bird which it may startle of escaping its clutches, 

 unless it can gain some thick hedge or cover which 

 the Hawk cannot penetrate. It is wonderful to see 

 this beautiful bird dash through a wood or copse in 

 pursuit of his prey, dodging with astonishing dexterity 

 the boughs and twigs which, one would think, must 

 interrupt him in his chase. In such dread is the 

 Sparrow Hawk held by some birds that, on seeing one, 

 they will throw themselves on the ground as dead. 

 But the pursuer is himself sometimes pursued. I 

 remember some twelve months ago stopping in my 

 walk to listen to the rapidly approaching loud cry of 

 a Blackbird. While I was wondering what it meant, 

 in a moment a Sparrow Hawk dashed across the 

 road and into the cover on the other side, with the 

 screaming Blackbird in hot pursuit. Probably the 

 Hawk had robbed the poor creature's nest. Many of 

 us, too, must have noticed one of these birds pursued 

 by Swallows, which delight to annoy and tease him by 

 constantly following him ; he never seems to turn upon 

 them, but usually makes off as quickly as he can to 

 some friendly wood. 



The Sparrow Hawk builds its own nest, though it 

 is said to occasionally adopt an old one of the Crow or 

 Magpie. The common position is in a tree, generally a 

 fir or an oak, in the midst of some wood or copse. It 



