SPARROW HAWK. 045 



grey tinged with brown) ; the feathers of the hind neck 

 white at the base ; the shafts darker. The quills are 

 all obscurely barred with dark brown, and have their 

 inner webs, excepting towards the tips, yellowish-white 

 in the intervals. The inner secondary coverts and sca- 

 pulars have large bands or spots of white, which are 

 apparent only when the feathers are raised. The mid- 

 dle feathers of the tail have four, the lateral five, dark 

 bars ; the tips white. The general colour of the lower 

 parts is reddish-white ; the throat marked with longi- 

 tudinal lines of deep brown, the fore neck and breast 

 transversely barred with brown, each feather on the 

 breast having five bars ; the abdomen less barred ; the 

 lower tail-coverts mostly pure white, some of the outer 

 ones having a few dark markings ; the lower wing- 

 coverts light red, barred with dusky. The lower sur- 

 face of the wings and tail is pale grey, more or less 

 tinged with red, and barred with dark brown. 



Length to end of tail 16 inches, extent of wings 26; 

 wing from flexure 9^ ; tail 7^ ; bill along the back 1, 

 along the edge of lower mandible \^ ; tarsus 2i ; first 

 toe ^^i its claw if ; second j^^, its claw \^ ; third 1/j^, 

 its claw j\ ; fourth \^, its claw j\. 



Variations. — The males vary in size, some being 

 twelve, others thirteen, inches in length. In old birds, 

 however, there is little difference of colour. The fe- 

 males are generally as described above ; but in some 

 the upper parts approach in colour to those of the old 

 male, and they present considerable diff'erence in the 

 tints and markings of the lower parts ; while in others 

 the upper parts are scarcely tinged with grey, and the 



