SPARROW-HAWK. 139 



placed on the broad branches and near the trunk, not at their extremities. 

 The nest itself is a large one, but the cavity which contains the eggs is 

 small and very shallow. It is always made of sticks, the majority being 

 dead ones, sometimes perhaps conveyed from neighbouring Magpies' nests ; 

 and it contains no lining beyond a few roots and, in rare cases, a little 

 moss ; but in all the nests which I have seen there was much down, some- 

 times halfway down the tree, probably accidentally rubbed off the bird as 

 she flew off and on the nest. The larger and coarser twigs form the outside 

 portion of the nest, smaller and finer ones the cavity in which the eggs are 

 laid. If built in the fir-woods, the branches of that tree are almost exclu- 

 sively used, the withered ones being seemingly preferred, although a few 

 living sprays are sometimes wove amoogst the rest, and give the nest a 

 bright and pleasing appearance with their emerald-green bursting buds. 

 From the fact that these birds pair for life, the same nest will not unfre- 

 quently be used in successive seasons, being patched up each spring, as 

 occasion demands. The nest of the Sparrow-Hawk is finished some time 

 before the first egg is deposited ; Dixon has, in some cases, known nests of 

 this bird, although quite finished, remain empty for a week and sometimes 

 more before the first egg has been laid. The Sparrow-Hawk not uufre- 

 queutly lays her eggs at irregular intervals, and, is as usual in such cases, 

 sits on them as soon as laid. They are from three to six in number 

 (although five may be said to be an average clutch), round in shape, and 

 most richly marked. In ground-colour they are a delicate bluish green ; 

 and the spots, bold and decided, are reddish brown of various shades 

 and intensity. Some specimens are so richly marbled and clouded as to 

 hide the ground-colour ; others have the spots in a zone round the end 

 of the egg, or more rarely round the middle ; while yet, again, some are 

 spotless, or very faintly marked, thus approaching very closely to certain 

 types of Harrier's eggs ; and even in the same nest one egg will be con- 

 spicuous by its small size or the absence of spots. They vary from 1*78 

 to 1*5 inch in length, and from T39 to 1'2 inch in breadth. You may 

 remove the eggs of the Spar row-Hawk indiscriminately, and the female 

 bird will still continue laying in the same nest, like the Starling and 

 several other life-paired birds. Dixon has known as many as fourteen 

 eggs to have been taken from a nest of this species in a single season. 



The female Sparrow-Hawk is usually found upon the eggs; yet the 

 male will occasionally take his turn. A close sitter, the bird will not 

 unfrequently allow you to reach the nest ere it quits its charge, to dash 

 silently, like a meteor, through the labyrinth of branches. As is usual 

 with Raptorial birds, the female is much the largest, and by far the most 

 courageous, often brushing an intruder's head with her wings when her 

 nest is menaced. Upon leaving the nest no sound escapes her, as a rule ; 

 but sometimes she disturbs the shady stillness with a harsh scream of 



