BRITISH BIRDS' NESTS. 381 



SPARROW-HAWK. 



(Accipiter nisus.} 

 Order ACCIPITRES ; Family FALCONID.E (FALCONS). 



Description of Parent 

 Birds. Length about 

 twelve inches ; beak short, 

 curved, and bluish ; bare 

 skin round the base of the 

 beak yellow. Irides yel- 

 low. Head, nape, back, 

 wing, and upper tail- 

 coverts deep bluish-grey, 

 edged with rusty-red ; 

 wing-quills dusky, barred 



with black on the outside webs, and spotted with 

 white on the lower portions of the inside webs ; tail 

 deep ash-colour, crossed with broad bars of dull 

 black and tipped with whitish-grey ; throat, breast, 

 sides, belly, and vent reddish-brown, marked with 

 transverse bars of orange in some and brown in 

 others ; legs and toes yellow ; claws black. 



The female is about three inches longer, and 

 nearly twice as heavy. Her upper-parts are browner, 

 with the exception of the back of the head, which 

 is greyer. The breast and under-parts are lighter, 

 and the markings on them larger and browner. 

 Both sexes are subject to considerable variation, and 

 are said to grow greyer with age. 



Situation and Locality. In fir, alder, larch, oak, 

 pine, and other trees, in well-wooded districts 

 throughout the British Isles. It is generally placed 

 in a fork or on a strong horizontal branch. 



Materials. Sticks and twigs, the finest in the 



