NOTES. 217 



1. A. nisus. ? imm. Shot Jan. 9, 1892. Dissected by T. E. 



Gunn. Both ovaries equally developed. 



2. .4. nisus. ? imm. Apr. 11, 1892. Dissected by F. M. O. 



Both ovaries well developed, and contained numerous ova 

 of various sizes. I think the forward condition of the ova 

 shows the bird would have bred this season, though it was 

 certainly only a last year's bird. 



3. A. nisus. 6 and 9. Nest of 4 eggs. May 24, 1894. 



<? probably fully 4 years old ; a very beautiful specimen, 



with deep red breast and underparts. ? probably a 2nd 



year's birds, with light margins to the 



feathers of the upper wing-coverts. 



(This and the previous specimen show 



another fact, namely, that the female 



Sparrow-Hawk frequently breeds before 



attaining mature plumage.) " Both 



ovaries equally developed. This is the 



second instance of equal development 



of the sexual organs in the female bird 



I have recently come across" (T. E. G., 



in litt., 2/6/94). This seems to me a 



particularly interesting example, as the pair were certainly 



breeding, and foiu* eggs had been laid at the time the female 



was shot. The rough sketch of the ovaries shows, I think, 



clearly enough that the right ovary is at least as large as 



the left, and that both are developing ova. 



4. A. nisus. 9 imm. Jan. 31, 1907. " It shows 2 ovaries 



nearly equal in size and development." 

 I have intentionally confined myself in this brief note 

 to tlie sexual glands of the female Sparrow-Hawk. This 

 species is still common in Great Brita^in and is rigorously 

 and legitimately persecuted by the game-preserver whenever 

 and wherever it is met with, so that there should be no 

 difficulty in any naturalist obtaining a large supply of material 

 to work upon, if he wishes to investigate this point. 



But tlie occasional persistence of both ovaries is not confined 

 to the Sparrow-Hawk. It may even be that this persistence 

 is no more uncommon in the Sparrow-Hawk than in some 

 other raptorial groups, the genus Circus, for example. But 

 the material for examination is so much more scanty that 

 it is hard to deduce any rehable data as to the frequency 

 of the occurrence. 



I have in my collection in all four female Hen-Harriers 

 (G. cyaneus) ; and of these four, two had both ovaries equally 

 developed and two only the single ovary on the left-hand side. 

 Mr. Gunn has, I thmk, notes of other Harriers that have 

 passed through his hands with both ovaries persistent. He 

 also found a Kestrel with right as well as left ovaries present. 

 This latter mstance must, I imagine, be a very unusual 

 occurrence. The Kestrel is far the commonest of our Hawks, 

 and numbers of specimens are killed by gamekeepers every 



