76 GAME PRESERVEKS AND BIRD TRESERVERS. 



CHAPTEE VII. 



THE SPARROW-HAWK, THE MERLIN, THE KESTREL, 

 AND THE OWL. 



The sparrow-hawk is the next most destructive 

 hawk that we have. He combines both 

 methods of attack ; either overtaldng his prey by 

 fair speed on the wing and dashing it to the 

 earth hke the falcon, or pouncing down upon it 

 and hfting it from the ground hke the buzzard 

 or hen harrier. He can catch okl grouse, par- 

 tridges, and pigeons, in the winter, and pick up 

 young pheasants in the summer as fast as they 

 are hatched. A gentleman wrote to one of 

 the papers a few years ago that he had counted 

 the remains of seventy-three young pheasants 

 under one sparrow-hawk's nest. Lord Lilford 

 tells the Committee that ' it will destroy an in- 



