64 FALCON IDE. 



Crow, in which the female deposits four or five eggs, each 

 about one inch seven lines long, by one inch four lines broad, 

 of a pale bluish white, blotched and spotted with dark red 

 brown. The young are covered with a delicate and pure 

 white down, and are abundantly supplied with food. Mr. 

 Selby mentions having found a nest of five young Sparrow- 

 Hawks which contained besides, a Lapwing, two Blackbirds, 

 one Thrush, and two Green Linnets, recently killed, and 

 partly divested of their feathers. 



The Sparrow-Hawk is common in most of the counties 

 of England, and has been observed in the west and north 

 of Ireland ; it occurs also in Scotland and its northern islands. 

 It inhabits Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Russia, and from 

 thence southward over the European continent to Spain and 

 Italy. Mr. Strickland observed it as far south as Smyrna ; 

 and M. Temminck has recorded it as occurring as far to the 

 eastward as Japan. 



The adult male measures about twelve inches in length ; 

 the beak blue, lightest at the base ; the cere greenish yellow, 

 the irides yellow ; the top of the head, nape of the neck, 

 back, wings, and wing-coverts, rich dark brown, — in very old 

 males with a tinge of bluish grey ; feathers of the tail greyish 

 brown, with three conspicuous transverse bands of dark 

 brown ; the chin, cheeks, throat, breast, belly, thighs, and 

 under tail-coverts, rufous, with numerous transverse bars of 

 darker rufous brown : legs and toes long, slender, and yellow ; 

 the claws curved, sharp, and black. 



The female is generally three inches longer than the male ; 

 the beak bluish horn colour ; cere yellowish, the irides yellow ; 

 the top of the head, upper part of the neck, back, wing, and 

 tail-coverts, brown, — the base of many of the feathers white, 

 which extending beyond the edge of the feather immediately 

 above it, causes a white spot or mark ; primaries and tail-fea- 

 thers light brown, barred transversely with darker brown; 



