AND NEIGHBOURHOOD. 27 



preserved district such as ours, with large extents of 

 woodland, dense coppices, and abundance of small 

 birds, no amount of shooting will extinguish this 

 freebooter, and I confess that I show him but little 

 mercy. 



The Sparrow-Hawk is a very bold and a very 

 ravenous bird, but seldom affords one much insight 

 into his proceedings. A warning note or two from a 

 Sparrow or Finch, the plunge of a small dark body 

 into a fence, a shriek of terror or agony, and all is 

 over. Nor are the small birds just mentioned by 

 any means the only victims ; when a pair of Sparrow- 

 Hawks have young, and discover a brood of young 

 Pheasants, Chickens, or Partridges, they will take one 

 or more of these every day till there are no more to 

 take, and I have seen a nest containing three young 

 well fed Hawks crowded with the putrefying bodies 

 of various birds which had not been touched as food, 

 the old Hawks apparently only indulging in this 

 extravagant slaughter to keep themselves in practice. 



The great difference of size between the sexes of 

 this species has led to much confusion amongst game- 

 keepers and others, and to the bestowing of many 

 different names upon them, but one very simple 

 distinction from all our other small Hawks may be 

 mentioned for the benefit of the unlearned in birds, 

 viz. that the Sparrow-Hawk has at all ages and in 

 all seasons a yellow iris or circle round the pupil, 

 whilst in the Hobby, Kestrel, and Merlin it is dark 

 brown. As I have before mentioned, the Sparrow- 

 Plawk is a very bold bird, and has often been known 

 to dash into a room, sometimes through a window- 

 pane, at a caged bird. I have had my face sharply 

 brushed by the wing of one of these Hawks, intent 



