HABITS OF THE SPARROWHAWK. 67 



the summer in the weald than elsewhere ; and al- 

 though subjected to at least an equal share of 

 persecution with other members of the family, yet 

 either from the nature of that thickly-wooded 

 country, or the anti-Malthusian propensities of 

 the bird itself, it still appears to hold its ground, 

 and to defy that power which has nearly extermi- 

 nated so many of its congeners, and almost swept 

 from our fauna such a list of comparatively harm- 

 less and interesting species. In none is the supe- 

 rior size and strength of the female so conspicuous 

 as in this bird ; the disparity indeed is so great 

 that some ornithologists were formerly inclined to 

 believe in the existence of more than one species. 

 When foraging for their young, the female attacks 

 the game-preserve, the poultry-yard and the dove- 

 cot, while her diminutive partner skims along the 

 hedge, and picks off the terrified yellowhammer 

 or the crouching bullfinch from the bushes, or 

 plunges into the evergreens after the sparrow and 

 emerges on the opposite side with his screaming 

 victim in his talons. 



During winter the adult females still keep to 

 the great woods, the game-preserves, and the 

 neighbourhood of the farm-yard; but the males 

 are more frequently met with in those parts of the 

 county which are partially enclosed, and where 

 flocks of larks and lesser conirostral birds haunt 



