By the Rev. A. C. Smith. 351 
in store in their nest for the half-fledged young,—“ Fifteen young 
pheasants, four young partridges, five chickens, a bullfinch, two 
meadow pipits, and two larks, all in a fresh state.” From such 
well-known voracity and penchant for game, I can scarcely hope 
that the Sparrow Hawk will be spared by the gamekeeper, though 
at the same time he deserves our respect and admiration for his 
bravery and skill: but at any rate let his sins be visited on his own 
head, and not on the inoffensive insectivorous kestrel, which is so 
often made to suffer for the misdemeanors of another. The Sparrow 
Hawk prefers birds to quadrupeds, and thus we see it furnished 
with long and slender legs, and toes (especially the middle 
one) remarkably elongated, and these are admirably adapted 
for grasping and penetrating the dense plumage of its victim. 
The female, flying low, and skimming over the ground with great 
swiftness, often seizes the partridge or the pigeon, with no gentle 
stroke, while her diminutive partner is content to pick off the 
sparrow or the finch from the hedge, or even the rickyard, whither 
his boldness will lead him undismayed. In none of the whole 
family is the difference in size between the male and female so 
‘conspicuous as in this species, and as the difference in colour is also 
great, no wonder that they should often be mistaken for distinct 
species. In this country it is sparingly met with throughout, 
oe 
nowhere very numerous, and nowhere entirely wanting, though the 
more wooded and enclosed parts are its favourite haunts. 
“The Kite,” (Zulco Milvus). Though once the terror of the 
poultry yard, and the admiration of the Naturalist, this graceful 
bird is now, alas! almost (I fear I must say quite) extinct in this 
country, and I much doubt whether many individuals, unless 
stragglers, are to be found south of the Tweed or east of Wales; 
and yet but a very few years since they were not uncommon 
in our homesteads and woods. Mr. Marsh has seen them at 
Winterslow, and once possessed a tame bird which was taken 
young in Clarendon Woods. Mr. Hayward, when a boy, sawa 
nest of them at Lavington. Mr. Stratton tells me that two nests 
have been taken, to his knowledge, by people now living in his 
neighbourhood, one at Fiddington Down, the other at West 
