THE SPARROW-HAWK. 109 



are not its only or even its favourite game. It is a very 

 general and successful destroyer; and, in the female especially, 

 by no means destitute of power. 



The difference in size between the sexes is not quite so 

 great as in the gos-hawk the male being only one-fifth less 

 than the female, the length of which is about fifteen inches. 

 The female is, however, a far more compact and powerful 

 bird, and her additional weight is much more than in pro- 

 portion to the length. 



There is some resemblance to the gos-hawk in the general 

 shape and air of the body, as well as in the general colour 

 and markings of the plumage, and in the male being redder 

 on the under part than the female. The upper part of the 

 full-grown female is blackish-grey, barred with darker, and 

 mixed with brown on the back and shoulders; the ear-coverts 

 and sides of the neck brownish, with a mottled white band 

 passing from the forehead over the orbit of each eye (which 

 is very prominent), and nearly meeting on the neck. The 

 under part is white, tinged with brownish on the belly, and 

 marked with transverse brownish bars. The irides are bright 

 yellow, and the naked parts pale, the tarsi being very long 

 and comparatively slender. The male is nearly similar on 

 the upper part, but wants the white on the head and neck. 

 They build in thick bushes and low trees, sometimes forming 

 a rude structure of twigs for themselves, and sometimes 

 making use of the nest of some bird that breeds earlier. 

 The crow tribe, and those other birds that agree with them 

 in the habit of plundering nests, are among the earliest 

 breeders, and have their young about the time that the 

 generality of birds are laying their eggs. Birds that prey 

 upon other birds breed later, and when they nestle in the 

 same places as they hunt, as is in so far the case with the 

 sparrow-hawk, they often occupy the deserted nests of the 

 egg-stealers. 



