SPABKOW-HAWK. 



PLATE XIX. 



Accipiter fringillarius y SHAW. SELBT. 



Falco nisus, LINIOEUS. LATHAM. 



jButeo nisus, FLEMING. 



THE Sparrow- Hawk commences its nidification in April: the young 

 are hatched after an incubation of three weeks. 



The nest, which has frequently been the previous tenement of a 

 Crow, Magpie, or other bird, is built in fir or other trees, or even 

 in bushes of but moderate height, as also in crevices or on ledges 

 of rocks, and on old ruins. It is large in size, flat in shape, and 

 composed of twigs, sometimes with, but often without a little lining 

 of feathers, hair, or grass. This species seems however to be but 

 seldom its own architect, but the same nest is sometimes resorted 

 to from year to year; in fact it is the opinion of Mr. Hewitson, no 

 mean one, that the Falcons very rarely make a nest for themselves. 

 An action of ejectment is commenced in person against some other 

 tenant at its own will of its own property no notice to quit 

 having previously been given; and, notwithstanding this legal defect, 

 forcible possession proves to be nine points of the law, and 'con- 

 tumely' is all the satisfaction that 'patient merit of the unworthy 

 takes/ 



The eggs, which are of a very 'distingue' appearance, are of a 

 rotund form, bluish white in colour, much blotted, particularly at the 

 base, with very deep reddish brown, and from three to five or six, 

 or even seven in number. They vary, however, very frequently in 

 their markings, which, in some instances, are obscure and indistinct; 

 and in others, the dark blots are at the smaller instead of at the 

 larger end. 



