SPARROW-HAWK. 135 
ACCIPITER NISUS. 
SPARROW-HAWK. 
(PLatE 4.) 
Accipiter accipiter, Briss, Orn. i. p. 310 (1760). 
Falco nisus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 180 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum—WNau- 
mann, Yarrell, (Pallas), (Gray), (Newton), (Sharpe), &e. 
Deedalion fringillarius, Sav. Ois. d’ Egypte, p. 34 (1810). 
Terax fringillarius (Sav.), Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamm. §c. Brit. Mus. p. 10 (1816). 
Sparvius nisus (Linn.), Viel. N. Dict. d’ Hist. Nat. x. p. 319 (1817). 
Accipiter fringillarius (Sav.), Vig. Zool. Journ. i. p. 838 (1824). 
Accipiter nisus (Linn.), Pall. Zoogr. Rosso-As, i. p. 870 (1826). 
Buteo nisus (Linn.), Flem. Brit. An. i. p. 55 (1828). 
Astur nisus (Linn.), Cuv. Regne An. i. p. 333 (1829). 
Nisus communis, Less. Traité d’Orn. p. 58 (1831). 
Falco nisosimilis, T?ckell, Journ. As. Soc. Beng. ii. p. 571 (1833). 
Accipiter nisosimilis (7%ck.), Blyth, Journ. As. Soc. Beng. xii. p. 311, (1848). 
Astur major, Degl. Orn. Eur. i. p. 86 (1849, ex Bekker). 
Nisus fringillarius (Sav.), Kaup, Contr, Orn, 1850, p. 64. 
Nisus major (Degl.), Jaub. Mots. Eur, Orn. p. 29 (1851). 
This handsome little species is the commonest and at the same time 
most extensively distributed of our native diurnal birds of prey. A Gos- 
hawk in miniature, elegant in form, agile and graceful in movement, the 
Sparrow-Hawk is an interesting ornament to the woods and fields; yet, 
from its boldness and destructive habits, but little favour is shown to it, 
and the game-preservers and poultry-keepers wage an incessant war of 
extermination against it. Throughout the whole of Great Britain and 
Ireland it is a common species in all well-wooded and cultivated localities. 
In the wild and comparatively treeless districts of Ireland, the west of 
Scotland, the Hebrides, the north of Scotland, and the Orkney and Shet- 
land Islands the Sparrow-Hawk becomes much rarer, and in many of these 
localities, notably in Shetland, it is only known as a summer visitor. In 
England and Wales and the Channel Islands it is a resident and widely 
distributed bird, very common in all the game-coverts, woodlands, and 
Partridge-grounds, up to the suburbs of our most populous cities; but 
in many districts the incessant persecution to which it is subject has 
sensibly decreased its numbers. 
The Sparrow-Hawk is found commonly throughout Europe up to the 
limit of forest-growth, about lat. 69°. In the northern limits of its range 
it is a migratory species, wintering in South Europe and North-east Africa, 
being very common in Egypt, Kordofan, and Sennaar. It breeds in 
Algeria, according to Loche, and also in the Canaries. In Asia it extends 
