108 BRITISH BIRDS. [vol. x. 



certainty if part of the skull is left. At times too, even 

 in winter, they use old Pigeons' nests to feed on. Some- 

 times they construct very flimsy platforms late in 

 December or early in January. These are quite flat 

 and one can usually see through them easily from the 

 ground. They are supposed to be used as dining-tables, 

 but I feel convinced that this is not their sole use, as 

 some which I have watched in progress of building have 

 never had a trace of a meal on them afterwards. On 

 the other hand, I have seen many used as dining tables, 

 and on others I have seen birds deposited, as if in a 

 larder, and removed later, but not eaten there. This, 

 of course, may be the work of stoats and not hawks. 

 Neither are these platforms used for roosting. 



In February and early March, and even later, there 

 is again movement on the part of the Sparrow-Hawks 

 and all the vacant woods round Felsted become occupied, 

 either by strangers or by birds which return to the 

 neighbourhood in which they were reared. It should be 

 possible to throw some light upon this question by 

 ringing all the young within a certain area, and inducing 

 keepers and others to report all they kill. 



When the Hawks have appropriated a wood in March 

 they select a nesting site almost at once and begin to 

 build ; sometimes both birds do the building, but I 

 believe that the hen often builds the nest unaided. The 

 rule in this neighbourhood is for birds to build new 

 nests each year, not using an old nest of any kind for a 

 foundation. If the eggs are taken and the nest removed, 

 the birds usually resort for a second laying to an old 

 Hawk's nest, if there is one in the wood, and just tidy 

 it up a little and reline it. I have, however, in such a 

 case, known an entirely new nest to be built in a different 

 tree. If the eggs are taken during the laying period, 

 the bird often continues to lay in the same nest and she 

 may even lay a second clutch if the first is taken after 

 incubation has started. In 1916 I had a curious ex- 

 perience. One of the birds I was watching ^^•as a very 



