VOL. X.] HABITS OF SPARROW-HAWK. 85 



One will make the food squeal of the young bird, but much 

 more loudly : another a sort of sibilant whistle, well known 

 to keepers, while the other notes are rather difficult to 

 represent by means of letters and are subject to variation. 

 Some, which I got down more or less to my satisfaction 

 were, " weal, weal, wee-oo, wee-oo," and later on " pay-ee, 

 pay-ee," " kay-ee, kay-oo, kee-uk."' 



Fig. 6. SPARROW-HAWK. 

 Young bird, Si days old, feeding on the nest. 



(Photographed by J. H. Owen. ) 



When they are first fit to leave the nest the young go 

 to a tree only a few yards away, and flap from branch 

 to branch and back to the nest when they get hungry. 

 Their powers of flight increase very rapidly and by the 

 thirty-first day they can fly quite well. By the end 

 of the fifth week they are really strong on the wing and 

 can come to the nest almost noiselessly (Fig. 6) . They are 

 exceedingly wary, and the least sound in the neighbour- 

 hood of the nest puts them off. At this period of life 

 they are difficult to watch with good results, because if 



