THE EAGLE-LIKE SUBFAMILY 2001 



more especially where rabbits are abundant; those rodents together with water- 

 fowl, constituting a large proportion of their food. The same writer describes the 

 flight of the bird as slow but smooth, and, except during the periods of migration, 

 not of long continuance. The nest, which is made rather late in the season, is gen- 

 erally placed in a high tree, and may contain from three to five eggs, the latter 

 being subject to great variation in form, size, and coloration. Breeding com- 

 monly in the higher parts of Norway and Sweden, the rough-legged buzzard ranges 

 as far poleward as Cape North, and at times nests in the British Islands. During 

 the breeding season it utters a kind of wailing cry, which has been compared to 

 the mew of a cat. America possesses four other genera of buzzard-like hawks, of 

 which only Asturina possesses more than two species; and a fifth genus ( Urospizias), 

 with one species, is confined to Australia. 



With the possible exception of some of the American forms just 



alluded to, the Accipitrines hitherto described have the metatarsus 

 Hawks 



considerably shorter than the tibia. We now come to a group of long-; 



legged hawks characterized by the great elongation of the metatarsus, which is 

 approximately or quite equal in this respect to the tibia. This group, as repre- 

 sented by the sparrow hawks, goshawks, and harriers, constitutes the subfamily 

 Accipitrines. For its size, the common sparrow hawk is one of the most dashing 

 and rapacious of all the Accipitrines, although its depredations are too frequently 

 attributed to the harmless kestrel. In common with its congeners, the sparrow 

 hawk agrees with the great majority of the subfamily in having the sides of the 

 face completely feathered, and the lores furnished with bristles, while it resembles 

 a smaller number of genera in the absence of reticulated scales on the back of the 

 metatarsus. Sparrow hawks may be distinguished from all their allies by the great 

 length of the third toe, which (exclusive of the claw) is more than double the 

 length of the ridge of the beak, measured from the front edge of the cere. The 

 short beak curves regularly from the base, and has a distinct festoon in the upper 

 cutting edge, while the nostrils are oval. The wings are short, not reaching within 

 a long distance of the end of the tail, and have the fourth and fifth quills nearly 

 equal and longer than the others. The long metatarsus is smooth, being covered 

 with greave-like plates, and the toes are long and slender, with sharp, curved claws. 

 There are more than twenty species of sparrow hawks, which are distributed over 

 the whole globe, with the exception of Oceania, the west of Australia, and New 

 Guinea. A few are rather larger than the European species, while many are con- 

 siderably smaller. The common sparrow hawk (Accipiter nisus} is still an abun- 

 dant bird in the wooded districts of England, and the female is the only Accipitrine 

 which inflicts much damage upon game preserves. It belongs to a group of the 

 genus characterized by the banded thighs, the absence of a collar round the neck, 

 and the number of bars on the tail not exceeding five. In the adult male the plum- 

 age of the upper parts, with the exception of a white spot on the nape of the neck, 

 is dark bluish gray, while the cheeks, chin, and under parts are rufous, barred with 

 bands of dark rufous brown, narrower than the intervening light spaces; the tail 

 being grayish brown, with from three to five dark bands. The beak is blue, and 

 the iris orange; the legs and toes are yellow, and the claws black. The total 

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