THE SPARROW HAWK 149 



shaking, after which she retires to some sheltered 

 spot, where, with one foot drawn up under her 

 warm breast-feathers and her plumage fluffed 

 out, she may rest and digest the meal in peace. 

 Here she may stay for hours; for though the 

 sparrow hawk can be wonderfully energetic, it 

 is really a lazy bird, and when full fed and con- 

 tented it will sit for hours motionless on some 

 branch, apparently oblivious to what happens 

 around it, yet those keen yellow eyes really take 

 in all that passes beneath, and if any person 

 comes within sight the hawk is gone like a flash. 



It is very rarely one succeeds in surprising a 

 sparrow hawk, for with those wonderful eyes it 

 misses little that goes on ; however, I once came 

 upon a male engaged in bathing in a tiny woodland 

 stream. The gurgling of the streamlet prevented 

 him hearing me coming, and the hawk was so 

 intent on splashing the water over himself, that he 

 did not see me until I was comparatively close. 

 When he became aware that he was being watched 

 he rose with a startled splash and flew heavily 

 off, flying very awkwardly, being handicapped by 

 the wet state of his feathers, from which the water 

 dripped as he went, falling like sparkling diamonds 

 on the brookside herbage. 



Sparrow hawks are exceedingly fond of bathing, 

 washing regularly, when they soak their feathers 

 through and through, after which they retire to 

 some warm and sunny corner, where, with spread 

 wings, and tail extended fan-wise, they dry the 

 sodden plumage. A spar-hawk's toilet is a lengthy 



