152 SPARROW-HAWK. 



tibn. In the open country the progress is a flitting 

 or gliding flight, skimming at a short distance 

 from the ground, along the back of hedges or the 

 skirts of some cover ; any obstruction on the 

 way, or fence, is passed as it were by a bound, 

 calculated with exactness, the action performed 

 with apparently no exertion, and the former 

 level course on the other side is again pursued ; 

 the prey is seized in the same rapid and easy 

 manner, and the stoop to the ground is made, 

 and the object seized almost without the spectator 

 being able to distinguish it, During the course, 

 some stone, stake, or eminence is often selected 

 for a temporary rest ; the station is taken up witn 

 the utmost lightness, the wings closed with a pecu- 

 liar quiver of the tail, and the attitude assumed 

 very nearly perpendicular, when it often remains 

 a few minutes motionless ; the flight is again 

 resumed with as little preparatory movement as 

 it was suspended. The prey of the male Sparrow- 

 hawk is smaller birds, his weight not permitting 

 him to carry off a heavy quarry ; but the female is 

 a very powerful bird, and we have here (and in the 

 group generally) a very marked example of dis- 

 parity between the size and weight of the sexes. 

 The female can easily kill a partridge or pigeon, 

 and we have seen her carry the latter for the 

 distance of one hundred and fifty yards ; Mr 

 Selby mentions a lapwing being among the 



