THE EAGLE-LIKE SUBFAMILY 2003 



secure from its rapaciousness. It is during the breeding season that this hawk dis- 

 plays the greatest boldness and most frequently ventures into the farmyard; such 

 visits being paid as much for the purpose of capturing sparrows and other small 

 birds as for preying on chickens. The sparrow hawk breeds from the extreme 

 north of Europe as far south as the Himalayas, and although generally construct- 

 ing a nest of its own, not unfrequently takes possession of that of a crow or some 

 other bird. The eggs are four or five in number, and are remarkable for the beauty 

 of their coloring, being generally blotched with large patches of brownish crimson 

 on a pale ground; the dark markings being often collected on certain parts of the 

 shell, leaving the rest bare. 



In Europe the sparrow hawk used to be extensively employed in hawking, and 

 was flown against blackbirds, thrushes, quail, landrails, partridges, etc. Quail 

 hawking with this bird is still largely pursued in Hungary and the Danubian 

 provinces; and it is stated that it was considered no uncommon feat for a sparrow 

 hawk to kill from seventy to eighty quail in a day. In India both this species and 

 the smaller besra hawk (A. virgatus) the latter distinguished by its uniformly- 

 colored thighs are largely trained. On this subject Mr. R. Thompson writes 

 to Mr. Hume that though the sparrow hawk is prized by the natives for its 

 speed and pluck, "it does not really come up to the besra even for courage; its 

 powers of endurance are much less, and it is less easily reclaimed. It is a delicate 

 and difficult bird to keep, and with all its boasted speed is but second to the besra 

 for every kind of hard field or wood work. What the besra would do at the first 

 throw, the other could not accomplish till the quarry was exhausted. To hunt 

 with the basha [the native name of the sparrow hawk] requires a deal of tact; 

 you must not throw it while the wind is high; you must keep well within the 

 proximity of woods and trees, and not balk it with birds larger than it can afford 

 to strike and clutch." Both these kinds of hawks are commonly flown in India at 

 sand grouse and the cream -colored courser. In North America the sparrow 

 hawk is represented by two nearly -allied species known as the sharp-shinned hawk 

 (A. fuscus), and Cooper's hawk (A. cooperi), in both of which the rufous bars on 

 the under surface are wider than the intervening spaces. While the former is some- 

 what smaller than the sparrow hawk, the latter is as much larger. 



The European goshawk, or goose hawk (Astur palnmbarius) , is 

 the type of a very large genus, differing from the last by the length 

 of the ridge of the beak from in front of the cere exceeding half the length of 

 the third toe without the claw; and further distinguished by the fourth toe being 

 about equal in length to the second, without the claws; by the overhanging tufts 

 of feathers on the thighs, and the absence of any tubercle in the bony nostrils. 

 The beak is short, with a distinct festoon in its cutting edge; the short wings 

 generally have the fourth quill the longest; the metatarsus usually has large scutes 

 in front, and the toes are of only moderate length. Goshawks have an almost 

 cosmopolitan distribution, although they are unknown in part of Oceania and the 

 southern portion of South America. While the more typical forms are equal in 

 size to the largest falcons, the smaller kinds are not larger than sparrow hawks; 

 and so closely are the goshawks and sparrow hawks thus connected, that some 



