114 SPARROW-HAWK. 
food to them from the air, so as to avoid the trap himself: 
all the birds thus brought to them were plucked, and had 
the heads taken off. Meyer says that the Sparrow-Hawk 
hides himself behind a bush to devour his prey, beg very 
jealous of observation: he sometimes pounces on the decoy 
birds of the fowler. 
Nidification commences in April. 
The nest, which has frequently been the previous tenement 
of a crow, magpie, or other bird, is built in fir or other 
trees, or even bushes of but moderate height, as also in the 
crevices or on ledges of rocks, and on old ruins. It is large 
in size, flat in shape, and composed of twigs, sometimes with, 
but often without, a little lining of feathers, hair, or grass. 
It seems, however, to be but seldom its own architect, but 
the same nest is sometimes resorted to from year to year; 
in fact, it is the opinion of Mr. Hewitson, no mean one, 
that the Falcons very rarely make a nest for themselves—an 
action of ejectment is commenced in person against some 
other tenant at its own will of its own property—no notice 
to quit having previously been given; and, notwithstanding 
this legal defect, forcible possession proves to be nine points 
of the law, and ‘contumely’ is all the explanation that ‘patient 
merit of the unworthy takes.’ 
The eggs are of a rotund form, bluish white in colour, 
much blotted, particularly at the base, with very deep reddish 
brown, and from three to five or six, or even seven, in number. 
They vary, however, very frequently in their markings, which, 
in some instances, are obscure and indistinct, and in others, 
the dark blots are at the smaller instead of the larger end. 
The young are hatched after an incubation of three weeks. 
In no species of Hawk is the disparity in the size of the 
sexes more conspicuous than in the one at present before us. 
Male; weight, from five to six ounces; length, from eleven 
inches and a half, to one foot one inch. Bill, light blue at 
the base, bluish black at the end; cere, greenish yellow; iris, 
bright yellow: it is protected above by a strong bony pro- 
jection, on which the feathers are partly white: bristles from 
the base of the bill overhang the nostrils. The feathers on 
the back of the head are white at the base, and seen more 
or less as they are raised, giving that part an indistinct 
mark. The forehead and sides of the head are yellowish red. 
Neck, pale red in front, the shafts dark; chin and _ throat, 
very pale or rusty or yellowish red; each feather has five 
