FALCONIDJE. 



of which remained in sight during the two hours I ob- 

 served them. The male, perched upon a projecting rock, at 

 intervals vociferously uttered his shrill " kleeking" note, whilst 

 the female remained in the air with her young family, each 

 displaying to the utmost advantage the peculiarity of their 

 flight, which has obtained for the kestrel the appellation of 

 wind-hover. Now motionless on the wing they appeared almost 

 fixed objects in the air, and the next moment, gliding on some 

 twenty feet or so, the hovering was again performed as if 

 resting upon the wing. Whilst in search of food this beauti- 

 ful evolution is mostly performed, more especially when 

 examining a field for small glires, or the heath, in search 

 of some basking lizard. Less courageous than the other hawks, 

 the kestrel mostly preys upon mice, insects, and at times small 

 birds, remains of which I have found in the stomachs of several 

 dissected by me. 

 Indigenous. 



GENUS III. ACCIPITER (HAWK). 



SPECIES 8 THE GOSHAWK. 



Accipiter palumbarius. Linn. 



ISAutour. Temm. 



THIS fine species, the first recorded instance of whose occur- 

 rence is the present, was obtained in the autumn of 1846 in 

 the county of Longford, and was found upon dissection, by 

 Mr. R. Glennon, to have been an immature male bird. 



A considerable deal of confusion appears respecting this 

 bird, as the peregrine and harriers have been confounded with 

 it under the term of goshawk, that name being applied to all 

 the large raptorial birds in the country ; whilst the term of 

 sparrow-hawk is applied to the smaller falcons. The present 

 species is of extreme rarity in England, and of occasional oc- 

 currence in Scotland. 



Habitat Central Europe. 



SPECIES 9 THE SPARROW-HAWK. 



Accipiter nisus. Linn. 



i' Epervier. Temm. 



THE most common of our birds of prey, the sparrow-hawk, 

 is well known, and exists in considerable numbers in any 

 thickly wooded portion of the country. It is characterized and 

 at once distinguished from the true falcons by its slender form, 



