CATALOGUE OF BIRDS. 38 



That he is a bad character no one who has taken 

 the trouble to watch his habits can deny. 



Gamekeepers often wrongfully accuse certain birds 

 of carrying off the young pheasants from the coops 

 during the breeding season ; but with regard to this 

 hawk, I always think that he fully deserves the bad 

 name which he has acquired. 



This bird would, I should imagine, soon become a 

 very numerous species, were it not so universally 

 killed down. It is seldom that a brood is allowed to 

 fly on any ground where game is preserved, except 

 where they owe their safety to the denseness of the 

 timber or the laziness of the gamekeepers and 

 trappers. 



The Sparrow Hawk is found all over the country, 

 being most numerous in the neighbourhood of large 

 woods. 



It generally makes use of the nest of the Crow or 

 some other large bird in which to rear its ravenous 

 brood. I have noticed in the Highlands that the 

 young birds were frequently fed upon the Meadow 

 Pipit, which is one of the commonest small birds in 

 that part of the country during the summer months. 



The specimens in the case, both old and young, 

 were obtained near Lairg, in Sutherland, in June, 

 1868. 



The nest had been built and occupied by a pair of 

 Grey Crows the previous year. 



