THE SPAEKOW-HAWK. 29 



Unlike the Kestril, which soars high in air and mostly 

 preys on animals which w r hen once seen have no power of 

 escape, the Sparrow-hawk is marked by its dashing, 

 onward flight. Skimming rapidly across the open fields, by 

 no means refusing to swoop on any bird or quadruped 

 worthy of its notice, but not preferring this kind of hunt- 

 ing ground, it wings its easy way to the nearest hedge, 

 darts along by the side, turns sharply to the right or left 

 through an opening caused by a gate or gap, and woe to 

 any little bird which it may encounter, either perched on 

 a twig or resting on the ground. Unerring in aim, and 

 secure of its holdfast, it allows its victims no chance of 

 escape : one miserable scream, and their fate is sealed. 

 And even if the prey detects its coming enemy, and seeks 

 safety in flight, its only hope is to slip into the thick 

 bushes and trust to concealment : resort to the open field 

 is all but certain death. JSTor is it fastidious in its 

 choice of food : leverets, young rabbits, mice, partridges, 

 thrushes, blackbirds, sparrows, larks, pipits, and many 

 others are equal favourites. It resorts very frequently to 

 the homestead and farmyard, not so much in quest of 

 chickens, which, by the way, it does not despise, as for 

 the sake of the small birds which abound in such 

 places. There it is a bold robber, little heeding the 

 presence of men, suddenly dashing from behind some 

 barn or corn-rick, and rapidly disappearing with its luck- 

 less prey struggling in its talons, pursued, perhaps, by the 

 vociferous twitter of the outraged flock, but not dispirited 

 against another onslaught. This coursing for its prey, 

 though the usual, is not the only method of furnishing 

 his larder pursued by the Sparrow-hawk. He has been 

 known* to station himself on the branch of a tree in the 

 neighbourhood of some favourite resort of Sparrows, con- 

 cealed himself, but commanding a fair view of the flock 

 below. With an intent as deadly as that of the fowler when 

 he points his gun, he puts on the attitude of flight before 



