ACCIPITRES. (311 ) FALCONID^. 



THE SPARROW-HAWK. 



BLUE HAWK, PIGEON HAWK, GLEG HAWK. 



Accipiter nisus. 



Enough for me 

 To boast the gentle Spar-Haiak on my fist. 

 Or fly the Partridge from the bristly field, 

 Retrieve the covey with my busy train, 

 Or with viy soaring Hobby dare the Lark. 



SOMERVILLE, Field sports. 



In most of the wooded districts of the county the Sparrow- 

 Hawk is frequently seen, and more especially in summer, 

 when it is rearing its young, for it is then so bold that it 

 often ventures into our gardens and farm-steadings in search 

 of prey. At this season the gamekeeper has to be on the alert, 

 if he be rearing young pheasants, for the Sparrow-Hawk will 

 seize and carry them off within a few yards of the watcher, 

 and, if not prevented, will return again and again, at short 

 intervals, to steal the chicks. Mr. Thomas Speedy, who 

 was for some j^ears assistant gamekeeper at Ladykirk, says : 

 — "We have known cases where Pheasants were being 

 hand-reared, and where this little impudent thief succeeded 

 in carrying off twenty or thirty young birds before it was 

 shot. With the rapidity of lightning, it dashed in from 

 some adjacent rock or wood, and although the keeper was 

 on the watch with gun in hand, it succeeded in clutching its 



