2 9 



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 univers- 

 ally 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. 



See " Bough Notes," Vol. I., Plate 14. 



CURLEW. 



Case 44. 



During the summer months these birds resort 

 to the hills and moors/where, in company with the 

 Red Grouse and Golden Plover, they rear their 

 broods. In the autumn they may be found in 

 flocks, sometimes feeding on the coast, and 



