SPARROW-HAWE. lil 
the larger are plucked. Of two which IJ lately had in my 
possession, kept in an empty greenhouse, one was found dead 
one morning, and partly devoured; and I have heard of 
another similar instance. Whether it had died a natural or 
a violent death is uncertain; but as they quarrelled over 
their food—they were both females—the latter is the most 
probable. Mr. Selby says that he has often known such 
cases. The first blow of the Sparrow-Hawk is generally fatal, 
such is the determined force with which, with unerring aim 
it rushes at its victim; sometimes indeed it is fatal to itself. 
One has been known to have been killed by dashing through 
the glass of a greenhouse, in pursuit of a blackbird which 
had sought safety there through the door; and another in 
the same way by flying against the windows of the college 
of Belfast, in the chase of a small bird. The voracity and 
destructiveness of this species is clearly shewn by the fact, 
witnessed by A. E. Knox, Esq., of no fewer than fifteen 
young pheasants, four young partridges, five chickens, two 
larks, two pipits, and a bullfinch, havimg been found in and 
about the nest of a single pair at one time. ‘The young 
appeared to have been catered for in the place of their 
birth by their parents, even after they were able to fly to 
some distance from it. A pigeon has been known to have 
been carried by a female Sparrow-Hawk, a distance of one 
hundred and fifty yards. 
Small birds in their turn sometimes pursue and tease their 
adversary in small flocks, but generally keeping a respectful 
distance; either a little above, or below, or immediately 
behind: their motive, however, is at present, and will probably 
remain, like many other arcana of nature, inexplicable. <A 
male Sparrow-Hawk which had a small bird in its talons, 
has been seen pursued by a female for a quarter of an hour 
through all the turns and twists by which he avoided her, 
and successfully so long as the chase was witnessed. Several 
instances have been known where houses, and in one instance 
a church has been entered by this bird, in pursuit of its 
prey—its own capture being generally the consequence; and 
one has been seen, immediately after the discharge of a gun, 
to carry off a dunlin which had been shot, and had fallen 
upon the water, poising himself for a moment over it in the 
most elegant manner, so that he might not be wetted, and 
then drooping his legs and clutching it most cleverly. 
Great however as is the power of flight of the Sparrow-Hawk, 
