148 BRITISH BIRDS. [vol. viii. 



within about 100 yards. Song-Thrushes, Blackbirds, Mistle- 

 Thrushes, ahnost all small birds are brought at times, but 

 strange to say very seldom Sparrows ! Some Hawks seem 

 to have a fancy for certain species. I have known one that 

 took great numbers of Bullfinches, others often took Gold- 

 finches. Many are very fond of Skylarks, etc. I do not 

 remember ever to have found the feathers of a game-bird 

 brought by the cock. When the young begin to pull up their 

 own food the hen begins to hunt, and then she may take 

 to robbing the rearing-field. The young Pheasants are then 

 quite big, and she will take them when nearly as large as a 

 Partridge. // this happens she will have to be shot, but there 

 is then no reason to destroy the nest, for the cock will finish 

 rearing the brood or most of them, with small birds. 



Every year we have at least one nest of Sparrow-Hawks 

 close to each of our rearing-fields. Some years the direction 

 taken by the old birds when hunting is directly over the field, 

 and not a Pheasant is touched. When we have had a trouble- 

 some bird it has always been a hawk that hunted from the 

 wood and was evidently attracted by the young Pheasants 

 flying up out of the grass in play. There is one other occasion 

 when the Sparrow-Hawk may do harm. When the coops 

 are first put in the rides in the wood, a young female Sparrow- 

 Hawk that is just beginning to kill for herself may see the 

 Pheasants, and finding them a simple prey will probably kill 

 one a day until stopped, but this is rare. The occasional 

 old Partridge killed by the female Sparrow-Hawk is almost 

 too rare an occurence to be taken into account. 



I have never ventured to write on the subject of this 

 delightful dashing bird before, knowing what a bad name 

 it has got, but I know that many observant field-naturalists 

 are of the same opinion as myself, and I feel certain if 

 employers would see that their keepers never killed a Hawk 

 except when caught red-handed, that they would find they 

 had not appreciably diminished their stock of game, and 

 would enjoy their " walks abroad " far more. 



E. G. B. Meade-Waldo. 



PECTORAL SANDPIPER IN SUSSEX. 



At Pevensey, Sussex, on August 25th, 1914, an immature 

 female of the American Pectoral Sandpiper {Erolia m.. 

 maculata) was obtained. I saw the bird in the flesh the 

 following morning, and it was in splendid condition, which 

 gave me the idea that it had not been in the locality for 

 long, as owing to the continued drought nearly all the feeding 



