X. SPAEEOW HAWK. 



(Accipiter nisus.} 



THIS bird is the commonest of its tribe here, and its depredations 

 among domestic fowl render it the most conspicuous. Grave 

 cause have poultry and pigeons " to curse that hedgerow thief the 

 Sparrow Hawk." Bold, clever, and active, it can wing its way 

 through among the crowded branches in a fir plantation, where 

 it is nearly impossible to get a shot at it, and when arrived at 

 the poultry yard, it cannot be fired at without risking the lives 

 of the chickens. 



The orphans of the incubator were the first to suffer if ever 

 they ventured beyond the sanctuary of the foster-mother, some 

 of them disappearing daily. After an enclosure was netted safely 

 for them, we again heard an outcry in the poultry yard, and found 

 the Sparrow Hawk attacking a brood of chickens under the 

 motherly guardianship of a hen, who was facing it boldly in 

 their defence, and shrieking for help, while the chicks were lying 

 flat on the ground shamming death, not moving a muscle till 

 after they were lifted. At last the order had to be given that 

 the marauder was to be shot at all hazards, which was done, 

 costing the lives of two of the chickens, martyrs to the public 

 safety. Their bodies were hung up over a steel trap as bait for 

 rats or weasels. Next day the trap had disappeared, but a 

 clanking sound was heard on the shingley shore close by, and 

 another Sparrow Hawk was discovered caught by the leg drawing 

 the trap after him. Another, which came into a shed after a 

 Blackbird, was adroitly caught and slain, and a family of six were 

 shot in a neighbouring wood, where they had had their nest 

 among the trees. 



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