FALCO NISSUS. 95 



The Sparrow Hawk. 



(Falco Nissus.) Linn. (Accipiter Fringillarius.) Ray. 



" Gnats are unnoted whereso'er they fly, 

 But eagles gaz'd upon with every eye." — Venus and Adonis. 



This bold little life-primer is so well-known, not only about 

 St Andrews, but every wooded district in Scotland, and by every 

 nest-hunting schoolboy, as to need little comment, and yet it is 

 astonishing how varied nature appears to different eyes. A 

 ripple of the sea on the sands has its music, as well as the 

 mellow whistle of the blackbird ; a particle of sand has its 

 history, as well as the pyramids of Egypt ; a little gowan on a 

 Scottish lea is as dear a remembrancer as the most gaudy 

 magnolia of India, or passion flower of Africa ; so the little 

 sparrow-hawk has a character as well defined as the condor of 

 the Andes— a reputation for boldness and rapacity more marked 

 than even that of the golden eagle — alas ! shall I say, once of 

 Scotland ! A wee, hiding forget-me-not has an interest of its 

 own, as well as the lofty pitch pine of the swamps of America, 

 or the wide-spreading mahogany trees of Honduras, or the leafy 

 giant trees of California, if it be carefully studied. One thing 

 that strikes us is the difference in the size of the male and 

 female, the one hardly 12 inches long, the other fully 15 inches ; 

 and while the male is only 23 inches across the wings, the 

 female is 28 or 28J. The difference is so much that Lelley says, 

 " In rearing young hawks care should be taken to separate them, 

 else the females, being larger and stronger, are sure to devour 

 the males, as I have repeatedly found when caged together." 

 Its beak, like the goshawk's, curves from the base, forming 

 a round culmen or riclge, and for the purpose designed by 

 Nature is, like all her work, perfect — the scissor-like cutting 

 margin of the upper mandible having a well-marked lobe for 

 clipping its prey. Its wings are shorter and the tail longer than 

 the true falcon's. Its legs and toes are much longer and more 

 slender, which easily distinguish it from the kestrel or merlin 

 falcon. Its short wings and long tail enables it to turn quickly 

 and execute marvellously rapid evolutions, and to glide amongst 

 trees or skim over the surface of the ground when in pursuit of 

 prey ; but wdien flying far, like the goshawk, it flies high, with a 

 constant flap of the wings — seldom in circles like the falcon ; 

 and when it does it is only in a hurried manner, different from 



