THE SPARROW HAWK 153 



It must be admitted that from the man's point 

 of view there is justification for his action, as his 

 living depends on rearing pheasants, and when 

 a sparrow hawk, heavily burdened with family 

 cares, comes across pheasant chicks in a rearing 

 field, it will not only dash in and carry off one 

 or two, but will return day after day. In the 

 same way it will sometimes raid a brood of chickens 

 in the farmyard. Under such circumstances the 

 hawk will show a degree of boldness completely 

 at variance with its character on other occasions, 

 swooping in on the chicken while people are 

 standing by, and appearing indifferent to their 

 presence. 



There are times when the sparrow hawk is as 

 recklessly bold as it is usually timid and retiring. 

 When in pursuit of a bird it will be deaf and blind 

 to everything but the quarry before it, and there 

 have been many cases of a hawk following its 

 prey into outbuildings and even into houses ; 

 nor is it by any means uncommon for the sparrow 

 hawk to attack caged birds, such as canaries and 

 goldfinches, when they are put out of doors, 

 say on a cottage wall. 



Undoubtedly this hawk has wonderful eyesight, 

 yet sometimes when intent on its business it does 

 not notice the most obvious things. For in- 

 stance, my brother was standing in a gateway, 

 when he saw a sparrow hawk flying down the 

 hedgeside towards him, when he instinctively 

 and without thinking threw up his hand as if 

 to catch a ball, and caught the bird instead ! 



