106 THE SPARROW-HAWK 



white, striated with brown ; the breast white, the fore-breast crossed by narrow 

 transverse umber bars, and narrow shaft-streaks of the same hue ; in the mid- 

 breast and flanks the bars are somewhat heavier. The shank feathers are also 

 barred. The cere, legs, and iris are yellow. Very old females closely approach the 

 males in coloration. Length 15 in. [393*0 mm.]. Immature birds resemble the 

 female, but have the feathers of the upper parts margined with rufous, and the 

 bars of the under surface with narrow rust-coloured superior margins, recalling the 

 same feathers in the adult male. Young in down white, [w. P. P.] 



2. Distribution. A generally distributed resident in all wooded parts of 

 the British Isles. It is scarce in the north and north-west of Scotland and of rare 

 occurrence in the Orkneys, while it is apparently absent from the Outer Hebrides 

 and Shetlands. Saxby's statement that it breeds in the Shetlands is probably due 

 to confusion of names, the kestrel being known there as the " Sparrow-Hawk." 

 On the Continent its northern breeding limit reaches the Arctic Circle, and south- 

 ward it is generally distributed in wooded districts to the Mediterranean, but in 

 Spain and Italy few birds stay to breed, and it is chiefly met with on passage. 

 Closely allied forms are also to be found in Madeira and the Canaries, North-west 

 Africa, Corsica and Sardinia, and in Asia, where the northern limit of the species 

 is 69 in W. Siberia and 69 4' in E. Siberia, while southward it has been found 

 breeding in the Himalayas. Although our British birds are sedentary, North 

 European birds are regular migrants, and in Africa reach Kordofan on migration, 

 while in Asia the southward migration ranges to about lat. 23 in China, [r. c. B. j.] 



3. Migration. A resident, and a winter immigrant from the Continent. 

 In autumn it is frequently recorded at our eastern light-stations (cf. B. A. Migration 

 Reports), and its numbers are perceptibly greater during the winter in various 

 districts of Great Britain (cf. Ticehurst, B. of Kent, 1907, p. 279 ; and Gladstone, 

 B. of Dumfries., 1910, p. 206.) In Ireland there is no evidence of migratory move- 

 ment (cf. Ussher and Warren, B. of Ireland, 1900, p. 132). On Heligoland the 

 passage of the young birds lasts from mid-August to late November, and that of 

 the adults from early October to late November ; the birds generally arrive on 

 the island in large flights in the late afternoon, descending from a great height 

 (cf. Gatke, Vogelwarte Helgoland, Eng. trans., 1895, p. 182). [A. L. T.] 



4. Nest and Eggs. The sparrow-hawk builds a somewhat neat and 

 substantial nest of its own, but takes for the foundation the remains of some 

 deserted nest of magpie, crow, or wood-pigeon in most cases, if not always. Upon 

 this the nest, generally built of larch twigs laid almost parallel to one another, is 



