254 ACCIPITER NISUS. 



this is the Sharp-shinned Hawk of America, Falco ve- 

 lox of Wilson and Bonaparte, which is about the same 

 size, and similarly coloured. It has been remarked by 

 two of my friends, that our sparrow hawk often flies 

 late in the evening. When I have seen it on such oc- 

 casions, however, I have been disposed to consider it, 

 not as searching for food, but as returning homewards, 

 perhaps from a long excursion. 



In the British series we must now pass to groups 

 more nearly related to the Buzzards than to the Hawks, 

 properly so called. From Haliaetus we have seen a 

 double series proceeding : — on the one hand, Pandion, 

 Falco, and Accipiter, which have now been described ; 

 on the other, Aquila and Buteo, which have also been 

 described. After the latter come the genera Pernis, 

 Milvus, Elanus, and, finally. Circus, which latter unit- 

 ing the two series, or, if you will, completing the circle, 

 leads us to the family of Owls. 



The only vernacular English name that I have heard 

 applied to the present species is Sparrow Hawk. Those 

 Highlanders who still retain their original and most 

 ancient language, name it An Speirsheog, although it 

 also obtains from them the name of Clamhan. It is the 

 bird described by my worthy friends, the chosen six, 

 one of whom makes it a Buzzard, under the following 

 names : — 



Falco Nisus. Linn. Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 131. 

 Falco Nisus. Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol. i, p. 44. 

 Sparrow Hawk. Mont. Ornith. Diet. 

 L'Epervier. Falco Nisus. Temm. Man. (TOrnith. p. bQ. 

 Buteo Nisus. Sparrow Hawk. Flem. Brit. Anim. p. 55. 

 Sparrow Hawk. Accipiter fringillarius. Selby, Illust. vol. i. 

 p. 32. 



