ADDENDA 169 
move about. Ted, who is a nimble climber, 
has often been up to them. Owls are night- 
flying birds, and are seldom seen in the day- 
time unless disturbed, and build in barns, old 
tree stumps, and the like. 
First as to hawks. The Sparrow-hawk and 
the Kestrel are the only two that you would be 
lieelys 1, think; ito, find near. London. Of 
these two the sfarrow-hawk is the larger-look- 
ing bird (the female being larger than the male) 
and the commonest (length 15 inches). This 
woodland-loving bird of prey is so called, I 
suppose, because of its special fondness for 
catching and eating sparrows, but it will 
capture all the birds smaller than itself it 
can get, too, as well as larger ones, such as 
pigeons, partridges, chickens, etc., requiring, 
it is said, three birds a day (more than 
1,000 a year!) to satisfy its appetite! We 
may perhaps call it a fearless bird, but its 
habits in capturing others of its kind are 
generally stealthy and cat-like. And too, 
when it is mobbed by a crowd of smaller 
birds (all of which know and dread it, and 
