THE SPARROW-HAWK 109 



are more often seen and killed than males, yet, till recently, 

 Naumann seems to be the only writer who has commented on this 

 fact : and he remarks that the male, being more timid and wary than 

 the female, is seldom seen in winter, when it retires to the deeper 

 shelter of the woods. But while it is most often encountered during 

 the autumn, and in the spring during March and April, it is at no 

 time so often seen as is the female. This peculiarity of conduct may 

 be due to the fact of his smaller size and the disparity between the 

 sexes is most striking which compels him to be content with smaller 

 prey, and at the same time relieves him from the necessity of exposing 

 himself; for small birds and mice can always be obtained, remote 

 from human habitations. Quite recently, however, Mr. Edmund 

 Selous : has suggested that this disparity in size may be due to the 

 fact that circumstances have shouldered upon the male the duty of 

 providing the food during that critical period covered by the term 

 "breeding-season"; and that as this food is largely to be found amid 

 more or less dense cover, a small body and short wings are the 

 outcome of selection. When hunting, it should be remarked, the 

 sparrow-hawk keeps close to the ground, speeding like an arrow, 

 now rising in a beautiful curve to clear a fence, now gliding rapidly 

 along it, shooting and turning from side to side, and ever and anon 

 tarrying a moment over a clump of roses or brambles, as if arrested 

 by a glimpse of a possible victim. A moment's glance suffices to 

 show that the cover is too thick to afford a capture, but the pause 

 has discovered a yellow-hammer perched high on a twig at a little 

 distance off', quite unconscious of danger, and in an instant it is 

 borne off into the wood, there to be speedily plucked and eaten. 



How dogged is their pursuit is testified by the numerous records 

 of sparrow-hawks which have flown through the windows of houses 

 when in chase of prey. St. John 2 relates an instance of this kind. 

 On one occasion, he says, " a sparrow-hawk pursued a pigeon through 



1 British Birds, vol. i. p. 135. 



8 St. John, Wild Sports of the Highlands, p. 105. 



