SPARROW-HAWK. 115 
bands of white, and six of pale red and dusky; shafts partly 
dark. Breast, as the throat, waved in bands, the shafts with 
two or three dark marks on the upper part, but without on 
the lower; back, deep greyish blue, the shafts darker; an 
evanescent bloom pervades this colour in the bird, which fades 
away more or less quickly after its death. The wings are of 
moderate length, reaching beyond the middle of the tail, and 
expanding to the width of one foot eleven inches; in some 
specimens the fourth quill is the longest, the fifth almost as 
long; in others these relative lengths are transposed; shewing, 
as pointed out by me some years ago in the ‘Naturalist,’ that 
no distinctive character ought to be considered as certainly 
established from the length of the quill feathers of the wing. 
The first is very short, equal only to the tenth, the second 
to the seventh, the third to the sixth. Greater wing coverts, 
pale red, barred with dusky brown; primaries, brownish, tipped 
with dark grey, marked on the inner webs with dusky bands, 
the inner margins of which are reddish white: the bands are 
conspicuous on the under side; the tips are darker than the 
rest; secondaries and tertiaries, marked as the primaries. The 
tail long, even, and consists of twelve rather wide and rounded 
bluish grey feathers, and has from three to six broad bands of 
blackish brown: it is tipped with greyish white; under tail 
eoverts, reddish white, barred with rufous brown; the feathers 
on the legs barred with the same. Legs, light yellow, thin, 
and long; toes, light yellow; the latter are also long, the 
middle one being remarkably so, even in comparison with the 
others: the third and fourth are connected at the base by 
a web, which extends beyond the second joint of the latter, 
and curves forward as far as that of the latter: the soles of 
the feet are very protuberant; claws, black, pale bluish at 
the base: they are very thin at the points; the inner and 
hind ones are of equal length, and longer than the others. 
Female; weight, about nine ounces; length, from about one 
foot two to one foot four inches; bill and cere, as in the 
male; iris, as in the male; head and crown, blackish grey; 
a white band passes from the forehead over each eye, and runs 
into the white on the back of the neck; neck and nape, brown, 
the shafts dark in front; chin and throat, reddish white, with 
longitudinal lines of dark brown; throat and breast, reddish 
white, transversely barred more or less clearly with dark brown, 
each feather having five bars; in age the whole colouring 
approximates to that of the male; back, rufous or greyish 
