BIRDS OF PREY. 3 



parts of the latter continent, but migrates from Europe as winter approaches, and seeks a warmer 

 climate in Northern Africa or India, appearing, according to Jerdon, in the latter country about 

 the beginning of October, and leaving about February or March. This species makes its home 

 principally in woodland districts, preferring such regions as are mountainous or hilly, and is more 

 numerous in the central portions of Europe than in the extreme south. Despite the shortness of 

 its wings, the Sparrow Hawk flies with ease and rapidity, but when upon the ground it hops in the 

 most ungainly manner. Towards such of its feathered brethren as are larger than itself it exhibits 

 no trace of fear, and pounces upon its prey with a dexterity and courage that will bear comparison 

 with the demeanour of the noblest of its congeners. In these encounters, the female bird has 

 decidedly the advantage over her mate, and can bear the brunt of a battle to which his strength 

 would be quite inadequate. Instances have been recorded in which this Hawk has been so eager in 

 the pursuit of its prey as to follow the victim even into a house or wagon, and we lately heard 

 of one darting into a railway carriage when in rapid motion in order to secure its prize. 

 Birds of all sizes, including domestic fowls, are boldly attacked ; Naumann mentions having even 

 seen a Sparrow Hawk swoop down and fasten itself upon the back of a Heron. Small quadrupeds 

 are devoured by these birds in great numbers, and they will sometimes stoop upon hares, but whether 

 this is done with any hope of overcoming them, or merely for pleasure, we have not been able to 

 ascertain. In so much dread is this formidable enemy held by the objects of its attack, that on its 

 approach some birds will throw themselves as though dead upon the ground ; others will make for 

 their hiding-place with such devious turnings from the direct path as baffle even the skilful steering 

 of their pursuer, and then dart into the inmost recesses of some protecting bush, and thus place 

 themselves for the time in safety. Such of the swift-flying smaller birds as do not hold the Sparrow 

 Hawk in dread, avenge themselves by following it boldly with loud cries whenever it appears ; 

 and so annoying does this reception prove to the tyrant of the woodland, that on the approach 

 of some species of Swallows, whose flight is too rapid to admit of revenge, it will soar at once 

 high into the air and beat a hasty retreat to its forest glades. The prey of the Sparrow Hawk is 

 usually conveyed to some quiet spot to be devoured at leisure ; the large quills are then pulled out 

 and the carcase devoured piecemeal, the indigestible portions, such as bones, feathers, and hair, being 

 subsequently ejected from the mouth, collected into large balls called castings ; it also frequently 

 destroys the eggs and young of such birds as make their nests upon the ground. The voice 

 of this species is but seldom heard except during the breeding season. The nest, which is placed 

 in some thicket at no great elevation, is built of small branches of fir, birch, or pine trees, and 

 the slight hollow that forms the bed for the young is lined with down from the body of the 

 female parent. The eggs, from three to five in number, are large, and very various both in 

 shape, colour, and size ; the shell is thick, smooth, white, or greyish or greenish white, and more or 

 less distinctly marked with spots of reddish brown or greyish blue, sometimes lying thickly together 

 and sometimes very sparsely scattered over the surface. The female alone sits upon the eggs, and 

 testifies the utmost solicitude and affection for her young brood, retaining her seat upon the nest in 

 spite of repeated alarms, and doing battle with all intruders. Both parents seek the food necessary 

 for the young family, though the female only is capable of preparing morsels delicate enough for the 

 tender beaks of the nestlings, who, we are told, occasionally perish from hunger should diey lose their 

 mother and be left to the more clumsy ministrations of the male bird. The young are fed and 

 instructed long after they have left the nest. Most numerous are the dangers to which the European 

 Sparrow Hawk is exposed, for not only men, but all such birds as are more powerful than itself 

 pursue it with unextinguishable hatred and animosity ; in some parts of Asia, on the contrary, it 

 is regarded with favour, owing to the facility with which it can be trained to hunt the smaller kinds 



