170 IN NATURE'S WAYS 



and through woods, near to the ground, picking off 

 small birds from the hedges. 



The female is much larger than the male, several 

 inches longer. She does her greatest damage to the 

 interests of farmers and game -preservers when she 

 has hungry young to feed. Nearly always sparrow- 

 hawks nest in other birds' old homes. The four or 

 five eggs laid are a bluish white, finely blotched with 

 brown. 



When chased by a sparrow-hawk, a terrified bird 

 sometimes will fly straight to a human being, or to the 

 door of a house, as if for protection. Once, by the 

 seaside, a kingfisher flew to a rock on which we were 

 standing, crouching at our feet, while a sparrow-hawk 

 dashed after him in pursuit, but was met, as he came 

 over the sea, by a gull, who gallantly attacked him, 

 and drove him off after a long chase. 



Then there are many stories like that of a gardener 

 who was quietly watering plants in the greenhouse 

 when a blackbird flew frantically in through the door, 

 taking refuge between his legs, while at the same 

 moment there was a crash of glass, and a sparrow- 

 hawk, which had been swooping on the blackbird, fell 

 dead at the gardener's feet. 



Departing Guests 



" How strange it is that the swift, which seems to live exactly the 

 same life with the swallow and house-martin., should leave us 

 before the middle of August invariably ! while the latter stay often 

 till the middle of October ; and once I saw numbers of house- 

 martins on the 7th of November. The martins and redwing field- 

 fares were flying in sight together ; an uncommon assemblage of 

 summer and winter birds 1 " 



