260 



ACCIPITRES. BIRDS. FALCON-ID^. 



that of the Harriers (Circus). The nest is built in the 

 forked branch of a tree, and lined with moss and 

 feathers ; it usually contains four or five eggs. 



THE SWALLOW-TAILED KITE (Nauderus furcatus) 

 is a handsome biri, inhabiting the warmer regions of 

 America, where, however, it seems to be a bird of 

 passage. Two specimens have been taken in Britain, 

 and hence it figures in our British Ornithologies as an 

 occasional visitor. It may be at once distinguished by 

 the great length of its very deeply-forked tail, which 

 exactly resembles that of the swallow ; its wings also 

 are extremely long and pointed, and the bird is evi- 

 dently constructed with a view to great activity in the 

 air. The head, neck, and the whole of the lower sur- 

 face of the body are snow-white ; the whole of the back, 

 the wings, and the tail feathers are deep black, glossed 

 with a metallic purple lustre a contrast ' of colour 



which gives the bird an elegant appearance. In the 

 air its movements are most graceful, and it spends most 

 of its time on the wing, capturing the insects on which, 

 like its analogues the swallows, it principally feeds. In 

 fact nearly the whole business of its life goes on in that 

 element, for which it is so pre-eminently fitted ; here 

 the courtships take place between the newly -mated 

 pairs, and here it devours all its prey, even carrying oft 

 the lizards and small snakes, which constitute a portion 

 of its food, to eat them while sailing through the air. 

 The Swallow-tailed Kite breeds in the southern states 

 of the American Union, building a nest of dry sticks 

 and moss, lined with grass and feathers, in the highest 

 branches of the tall oaks and pine trees. In this the 

 female lays from four to six eggs of a greenish-white 

 colour, upon which the parents sit alternately, feeding 

 : each other while thus engaged. 



HAWKS. 



THE SPARROW-HAWK (Accipiter Nisus), one of the 

 most abundant of our British hawks, is also found com- 

 monly not only in most parts of Europe, but also in 

 Asia, as far east as Japan, and in the northern parts of 

 Africa. The male and female in this, as in most 

 other species of the group of Hawks, differ greatly in 

 size ; the former measuring only about twelve inches 

 in length, whilst his partner is fifteen. The general 

 colour of the plumage consists of different shades of 

 brown, richer in the male than in the female ; in the 

 former the lower surface of the body, from the chin to 

 the tail coverts, is reddish, with many transverse bars 

 of reddish brown; in the female the same parts are 

 greyish- white, with brown bars; a somewhat similar 

 difference of colour prevails in the tail feathers of the 

 two sexes. 



The Sparrow-hawk is exceedingly elegant in its 

 form, and active in its habits, its long wings enabling it 

 to fly with great rapidity, whilst its broad and powerful 

 tail renders it capable of performing the most astonish- 

 ing evolutions with ease. When hunting for its prey, 

 it usually glides swiftly along at a height of only a few 

 feet above the fields, occasionally passing up one side 

 of a hedge and down the other, its bright eye always 

 watching for an opportunity to dart upon its victim. 

 It sometimes pursues birds upon the wing, but usually 

 pounces down upon them when resting either on the 

 ground or on the branch of a tree or bush, and its 

 descent upon its quarry is performed with the most 

 surprising celerity. Mr. M'GDlivray mentions his hav- 

 ing seen a Sparrow-hawk "rush headlong into the 

 midst of a dense thicket, and suddenly emerge on the 

 other side carrying off a thrush in his talons ;" and he 

 adds, " How a bird at its utmost speed could thread 

 its way between branches and twigs seems almost in- 

 credible." But the Sparrow-hawk does not always 

 content himself with a diet of small birds and field- 

 mice ; young rabbits, leverets, and partridges are often 

 destroyed by him in the fields, and occasionally he 



!pays a visit to the habitations of man, and carries off 

 chickens from the poultry-yard or pigeons from the 

 i dovecot with the utmost audacity. Even the presence 



of man does not at all interfere with the predatory 

 plans of this daring little marauder ; he skinis along at 

 a little distance from the ground, snatches up his prey 

 in an instant, sometimes almost from under people's 

 feet, and dashes off with it before an alarm can be 

 given. When taken young the Sparrow-Hawk may 

 be trained to hawking; he may be flown at partridges 

 early in the season, and, according to Sir John Sebright, 

 " is the best of all the hawks for landrails." In rearing 

 the young, the sexes must be separated very early, 

 otherwise the females, being larger and stronger, will 

 kill and devour the males. 



The nest of the Sparrow-hawk is usually built in 

 a tree, but in some of the Hebrides, where trees are 

 wanting, the bird builds among the rocks. The nest is 

 nearly flat, rudely composed of sticks and twigs, with a 

 little grass, moss, or wool in the centre for the recep- 

 tion of the eggs, which vary from three to five in num- 

 ber, and are of a bluish-white colour, with dark-brown 

 blotches and spots. Very often this hawk does not 

 take the trouble to build a nest, but seizes upon the 

 deserted dwelling of some other bird, usually a crow. 



THE STREAKED SPARROW-HAWK (Accipiter vir- 

 gatus) is an Indian species, which, although not common, 

 is much used and highly prized by the native falconers. 

 It is an inhabitant of the forests, and is employed for 

 hawking in jungly districts, for which its habits specially 

 adapt it. 



THE AMERICAN BROWN HAWK (Accipihrfuscus), 

 which is found abundantly in many parts of the United 

 States, especially those bordering the Atlantic, is an 

 active and elegant bird, which seems in its boldness to 

 represent our sparrow-hawk on the North American 

 Continent. It is described by Wilson as dashing 

 through the air with extraordinary velocity, often in a 

 zig-zag course, as if for the purpose of seizing its prey 

 by surprise. It feeds upon small birds, quadrupeds, 

 and lizards ; and as an example of its activity in pur- 

 suit of prey, Wilson mentions his having shot a speci- 

 men which had in its talons a small lizard, whose 

 lightning-like rapidity of movement is so remarkable as 

 to have obtained for it the name of the Swift. 



