72 MY LIFE AS A NATURALIST 



as its ancient lineage would lead one to suppose. A bold bird 

 of prey, showing no mercy, and receiving little from gamekeepers 

 and farmers, this Hawk follows its prey with great daring, even 

 through the open window of a barn, or other building. As is 

 usual among birds of prey, the female is much the larger of the 

 two sexes. It is of rare occurrence for a whole nest to be com- 

 pleted by this much-molested species, as the disused, or usurped, 

 homestead of a Jay, or other stick-constructor, is utilised, and 

 added to. The eggs are handsomely blotched with splashes of 

 rich red, and a comparison in size between the egg of this species 

 and that of the Cuckoo (the latter being about the same stature 

 as a female Sparrow Hawk), reveals the fact that, whereas the 

 latter is only about the size of that of the House Sparrow, the 

 egg of the Hawk is as large as a golf ball. 



Birds, on occasions, exhibit strange divergence from the type, 

 and this was manifest in the case of that restless inhabitant of our 

 furze-laden commons and waste places, the Stonechat, which 

 I once saw dangling a lizard in its beak. It is almost on a 

 par with a Redbreast, which showed great cleverness in catching 

 sticklebacks, and the amorous Turtle Dove, immortalised by 

 the poets as gentle and felicitous, which I once witnessed strike 

 at and actually kill a young Pheasant. 



