SPARROW-HAWK 



PLATE XIX. 

 Accipiternisus, LINNAEUS. 



THE Sparrow-Hawk resembles the Goshawk in usually, 

 Mr. Seebohm says, "always," building its own nest. It 

 has been accused of appropriating the nests of other species 

 after ejecting the lawful owner, but the observations of recent 

 accurate observers are opposed to the statement. It com- 

 mences its nidification early in May, and occasionally even 

 in April : the young are hatched after an incubation of 

 three weeks. 



The nest is usually placed in the deepest woods. Mr. 

 Seebohm gives a very detailed account of it. He says : "It 

 is very rarely found on the topmost branches ; it is always 

 placed on the broad branches and near the trunk, not at 

 their extremities. The nest itself is a large one, but the 

 cavity which contains the eggs is small and very shallow. It 

 is always made of sticks, the majority being dead ones, some- 

 times perhaps conveyed from neighbouring Magpies' nests ; 

 and it contains no lining beyond a few roots and, in rare 

 cases, a little moss ; but in all the nests which I have seen 

 there was much down, sometimes halfway down the tree, 

 probably accidentally rubbed off the bird as she flew off and 



on the nest. The larger and coarser twigs form the outside 



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