150 



KNOWLEDGE. 



[July, 1901. 



saved it. It shot up still furtlier this time, and the 

 hawk gave up the chase. It should be said that the 

 hawk was a male, and thcrefoi'e not so very much 

 larger than the fieldfare. Another male sparrow-hawk 

 was not more fortunate with a greenfinch which he 

 chased out of a wood, and hustled greatly, but could 

 not catch; and with a loud twitter the little bird went 

 gaily off. 



However, in forming any estimate of the performances 

 of animals, it is well to bo able to eifect a comparison 

 with some common type ; and to gauge the sjieed of 

 common birds we cannot take a more familiar species 

 tlian the house-sparrow. The homing pigeon we know 

 can be relied on to attain, under fairly easy conditions, 

 a speed of 60 miles per hour, or considerably more. The 

 sparrow, surely, could never do anything like that ! 

 But the fact is that for a short distance the sparrow is 

 well able to keep up with a good homer, and even when 

 flying behind and below it (and therefore in a more 

 disturbed region of the air) to gain enough additional 

 momentum to deliver an attack. We know that the 

 larger and heavier the bird (given a fair wing-spread), 

 the greater its speed ; but there is no getting away from 

 this fact of the sparrow overtaking the jjigeon. I often 

 saw this at Stroud, the pigeons being excellent homers 

 of pedigree and reimtation, and the sparrow an old male 

 that lived near them. I have since seen the same per- 

 formance enacted elsewhere. In each case it was clear 

 that the pigeon did not relish the attack, but did its 

 utmost to get out of the way. I have several times seen 

 a sparrow chase a starling in the same manner, the latter 

 uttering its cackling alarm-cry. At Stroud it seemed 

 to me that a starling pursued in this way often went at 

 nnce to perch in a tree, where the smaller bird would 

 not, so far as I know, continue the assault. A few days 

 ago I saw a male chaflinch chase a starling from a Scotch 

 fir, much affected by chafiiuclies in spring ; and iu this 

 case, also, the smaller bird seemed to have no difficulty 

 in overtaking the larger. 



In Februai-y last I witnessed the occurrence of even 

 greater audacity in a sparrow. In spring the sparrow 

 regards the jackdaw with almost as much fear as it 

 views a hawk, in fact, with much more than it sees the 

 kestrel. This is no doubt due, not to adult sparrows 

 being attacked, but to their young being so often 

 removed to supply the larder of the young jackdaws. 

 The daw, ready enough to attack an adult small bird 

 upon occasion, never hesitates to seize a young one if the 

 chance offers. Ou the occasion iu question I saw a 

 sparrow carrying something large over a house. It 

 dropped the burden iu the hollow of the roof, and 

 descended there. Along came a jackdaw, soaring about 

 for food, as they do all day at Cheltenham, fe,nd down 

 he went suddenly on the roof, returning at once with a 

 nice piece of bread, which he ate on the chimney. He 

 then took wing, and at once the sparrow came after 

 him. Away went the daw, and close behind followed 

 the sparrow, making frequent pecks at him. Stranger 

 still, the jackdaw was clearly seeking to avoid the 

 attack, but vainly. The birds made three good circles; 

 and in the third the daw was swerving like a tin plate 

 thrown from the hand, and close above the garden trees. 

 The sparrow now gave it up. and descended into a road- 

 side tree, while the jackdaw went away. I moved on 

 and jiassed the sparrow, which was then chirping in 

 that loud and continuous mannei- which seems to be 

 the nearest approach to singing attained by the species. 

 Possibly he was feeling proud of his victory. 



At Charlton, last spring, a sparrow and a swift had 

 decided upon the same site for a nest, for which they 

 were fighting. The hole was under a thatched roof, 

 and so often as the sparrow ensconced himself therein, 

 the swift darted up aud dragged him out again. Often 

 the birds fell some distance together before separating. 

 Once they nearly reached the ground. After one of 

 these tussles, the sparrow chased the swift to some 

 distance, and although he could not nearly overtake it, 

 he flew " a very good second " even to that rapid leader, 

 which was certainly frightened and doing its utmost to 

 outpace him. 



FOUR-HORNED SHEEP. 



By R. Lydekker. 



Of late years, at any rate, the attention of British 

 breeders of sheep and cattle has been directed to the 

 obliteration rather than to the development of horns. ; 

 these weapons of offence and defe^ice being not only 

 quite unnecessary to domesticated animals which arc 

 never exposed to the attacks of beasts of prey, but often 

 being the cause of serious damage, either from the 

 animals fighting when in the open, or goring one another 

 when crowded together during transit by rail. Among 

 cattle the estimation in which " polled " breeds are held 

 at the present day, and the practical disappearance of 

 the old-fashioned long-horns, are excellent examples of 

 this fashion ; while among sheep, if we except the 

 mountain and Dorset breeds, the majority of those bred 

 in this country are hornless. 



If, however, fashion and custom had set in the opposite 

 direction, there is little doubt that some extraordinary 

 developments in the form, size, or number of the horns 

 might have been witnessed in both these groups of 

 animals. Length of horn was indeed a feature in the 

 old-fashioned breed of British long-horned cattle, and the 

 massivoness and size of the horns of the humped cattle 

 of Gallaland and Abyssinia, as well as the lengtJi fre- 

 quently attained by the same appendages in the trek- 

 oxen of Cape Colony, bear testimony to the facility with 

 which developments in this direction can be encouraged. 



Horn-development among domesticated cattle seems, 

 however, to be restricted to increase in size, with some 

 comparatively slight degree of modification in I'egard to 

 general form and curvature ; and it does not appear 

 that any breed is known in which the horns are per- 

 manently characterised by an abnormality iu structure. 



Very different is the case iu sheep, in which the horns 

 seem to lend themselves with great facility to abnormal 

 development in several directions. The typical form of 

 hom is familiar to us in the wild sheep of Europe aud 

 Asia as well as in the old classical sculptures of Jupiter 

 Amnion ; and this type, although much reduced in size, 

 is fairly well retained iu the modern Dorset and merino 

 breeds. In old rams of both breeds there is, however, 

 a tendency to produce a spiral of gieater length than 

 ever occurs in wild sheep ; and this tendency is perhaps 

 even more noticeable iu the mountain breeds of Scotland 

 and Wales. In all the above breeds the original close 

 and incurved horizontal spiral is, however, preserved. 

 But in the so-called Wallachian breed of Eastern Europe 

 the horns take the form of upwardly directed corkscrews, 

 mimicking in fact to a certain degree those of the beauti- 

 ful African kudu antelope. A single skull in the old 

 Hunterian collection of the Royal College of Surgeons 

 indicates the existence of a closely allied if not identical 

 breed of sheep in Sumatra. 



