148 HAWKS. 



for a representation of the egg of the Sparrow 

 Hawk. 



In Britain, and, indeed, in Europe, the varieties 

 of this form are very limited, Accipiter and Astur 

 being hitherto the only genera admitted. Those 

 seem to be most numerously distributed in Ame- 

 rica, Africa, and New Holland ; Asia and Europe 

 possessing the least number of species, while the 

 distribution of our British birds is not very widely 

 extended. The Gos-hawk is known only as 

 European ; the species of America, though nearly 

 allied, being distinct, while we have no authenti- 

 cated inptance of our own bird occurring there. 

 The Sparrow-nawk is European,, and we have the 

 authority of Temminck for specimens occurring 

 in Japan, and we believe that it also occurs in 

 alpine India. 



The Gos and Sparrow-hawks were formerly 

 united together under the generic title of either 

 Astur or Accipiter, as it pleased their describers. 

 They have been separated by modern systema- 

 tists, and the distinctive characters rest chiefly 

 on a difference of size, and in the tarsi of Acci- 

 piter being very slender, with the scales smooth, 

 and united at the joinings. The distribution of 

 the colours of the plumage, and the habits of 

 both genera, however, agree remarkably, and we 



