The Sparrow Hawk. 273 



fall for 1902 was 39.70 inches; the average for fifteen years, 

 45.90. At Ewes Schoolhouse the fall was the lowest of any 

 recorded year, being 36.5 inches. The next lowest record was 

 in 1889, when it was something like 38 inches. Sir Emilius 

 Laurie contrasted the rainfall at Maxwelton House with that at 

 Folkestown and Hatfield, which he got. At Folkestown the 

 fall for 1902 was 21.99 inches; and at Hatfield, 18.03. I" 

 January of this year the fall at Maxwelton House was 8.49 

 inches; at Folkestown, 2.29. 



in. — The Sparrow Hawk (Accipiter nisus Linn). By Mr 

 Robert Service. 



Amongst our British diurnal raptorial birds we have vultures, 

 eagles, falcons, hawks, kites, buzzards, and harriers — groups of 

 birds distinguished from each other by well marked characters 

 and habits. 



Our sparrow hawk is the type and representative of the 

 hawks. It is not a falcon, and a falcon is never a hawk, 

 although the transposition constantly occurs in the conversation 

 and ideas of sportsmen of all degrees. 



The hawks are distinguished from the falcons, mainlv 

 (although there are several other good distinctions), by the 

 possession of short wings. This strong structural character 

 affects their mode of life, and in consequence we do not find in 

 their case the high powers of flight, and the meteoric rush with 

 which the peregrine, for instance, dashes upon its prey. 



Throughout our area by far the most familiar raptorial 

 bird is the sparrow hawk. On the moorlands the kestrel may 

 outnumber it, and the merlin may claim our attention as often; 

 while in districts where woods and plantations abound, the 

 brown owl and the long-eared owl may be more abundant, still 

 our subject is the species, amongst the birds of prey, that comes 

 oftenest under ordinary and general observation. 



During the months when the autumn migration is going on 

 the sparrow hawk is most in evidence, and it is during that 

 period of very regular and evenly distributed abundance. The 

 word "abundant" is in this connection a comparative term. 

 From the very nature of the case, birds of prey of any British 

 species in ordinary circumstances can never be more than widelv 



