EAPTORES. 9 



proved on dissection to be a female,* and I believe 

 that the difference of plumage will be found to depend 

 upon age. The Sparrowhawk is sometimes sur- 

 prisingly bold, and I can vouch for the following 

 fact, which I scribbled down in my note-book at the 

 time : — 



"June 7, 1863.— Old Powell, at Harrow Weald, 

 was at work in his garden yesterday, when a Sparrow 

 dashed up against him, closely pursued by a Spar- 

 rowhawk. The Hawk, nothing daunted by his 

 presence, seized the Sparrow, which had fallen at 

 Powell's feet, and bore it screaming away." 



I have heard of other similar instances ; and in 

 the majority of cases the female Sparrowhawk, 

 which (as is the case with all the females of the 

 Baptores) is the larger bird, was the delinquent. 



Of a pair of Sparrowhawks in my own collection, 

 the male was obtained at Edgewarebury and the 

 female at the Well Springs in this parish ; and I 

 have seen others which had been trapped or shot 

 at the Hale, Edgeware, Brockley Hill, and Elstree. 

 A nest was taken in the Mount, Harrow, in the 

 spring of 1861, from the top of a Scotch fir; but it 

 is rarely that the Sparrowhawk is found breeding 

 here. 



By far the greater number of specimens which 



^ See a letter from him on this subject in the ' Magazine 

 of Natural History.' 



