109 



SPARROW-HAWK. 



GWEPIA, OF THE ANCIENT BRITISH. 



Accipiter Fringillarius, SHAW. SELBY. 



Falco nisus, LINNAEUS. LATHAM. 



Suteo nisus, FLEMING. 



Accipiter. Accipio To take. Fringillarius. Fringilla A Finch. 



'TAKE it for all in all,' there is perhaps no bird of the 

 Hawk kind more daring and spirited than the one before 

 us next to the Kestrel, the most common of the British 

 species of that tribe. It hunts in large woods, as well as 

 in the open fields, and may frequently be seen sweeping over 

 hedges and ditches in every part of the country. In the 

 winter the males and females, like the chaffinches, appear to 

 separate: the motive is of course unknown. 



The Sparrow-Hawk is very numerous in various parts of 

 the world; throughout Europe, from Russia, Denmark, Sweden, 

 and Norway, to Spain ; in Africa, even as far as the Cape of 

 Good Hope; in Asia Minor and Japan; but does not occur, 

 1 believe, in America. It is numerous also in Ireland and 

 Scotland, and occurs likewise in the Hebrides. 



It prefers cultivated to uncultivated districts, even when 

 the latter abound in wood, though wooded districts are its 

 favourite resorts. The Rev. Leonard Jenyns says that in 

 Cambridgeshire the males are much less frequently seen than 

 the females; and this observation appears to be also general 

 in its application, not as we may suppose from any disparity 

 in numbers between the two, but from the female being of a 

 more bold, and the male of a more shy and retiring disposition. 



The organ of combativeness, according to phrenologists, 

 would appear to be largely developed in this bird: it seems 

 to have universal letters of marque, and to act the part of a 



