110 On the Occurrence of some of the Rarer Species of Birds 
and dry its feathers for an hour before it was fit for another flight. 
This bird was of a very sulky disposition, and at times refused to take 
any notice of the quarry after which it was thrown. But perhaps it 
had scarcely recovered the results of its education, which was, at the 
time I mention, barely concluded, and certainly not conducive to 
good temper: for it had consisted, in part, of its having been kept 
awake persistently for several days and nights together, my friend 
having hired an old couple in Salisbury to keep watch over it in 
turns, and- prevent its snatching so much as a wink of sleep, by 
tickling its nostrils with a feather when inclined to doze. Had any 
of my readers been placed under the same regimen, I doubt whether 
their tempers would have fared much better. As to any other oc- 
currence of this rare bird in our more immediate neighbourhood I 
have no information, and think myself fortunate in being able to 
speak of it at all, in any way. I would mention that Mr. Rawlence 
has a splendid specimen of the adult female Goshawk in his collection 
at Wilton, which is well worth seeing. This bird is reported to have 
come from the North of England, together with the Greenland 
Falcon before mentioned, but I can gain no further evidence con- 
cerning them, as to either date or place. 
Accipitur Nisus, “The Sparrow Hawk.” On coming to speak of 
our well-known friend, the Sparrow Hawk, of course a good deal 
might be said—as undoubtedly should our attention be drawn by 
anyone to some bird of prey in the air, the chances are that it will 
turn out to be either a Kestrel, or a female Sparrow Hawk. And 
in passing it is curious to observe what confusion there is in many 
a gamekeeper’s mind, who of all other men one would have supposed 
should have known better, concerning these species, and other birds 
of prey—iu some districts Kestrels being called Sparrow Hawks, 
and in others, Sparrow Hawks Kestrels; while if you try to un- 
deceive them, your efforts will generally receive some such conclusive 
remark as this, which allows of no appeal: “ Please, Sir, we do 
always call ’em Sparrow Hawks down here, and what you call 
Sparrow Hawks we do call Kestrels.” In this district the Sparrow 
Hawk is still common, though woefully persecuted, and it is a happy 
bird, which is able to build, and rear its young in safety. Some 
