124 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs 



Fa»i i/v—FA L CONID^. 



American Gos-Hawk. ■ 



Astiir atricapiUu.s, WiLSON. 



THREE examples of the American Gos-Hawk, that only differs from the bird 

 just described in having a black head, and narrower and more numerous 

 transverse markings on the breast, have been obtained in the British Isles, one in 

 Scotland, and two in Ireland. One in Perthshire, in 1869 ; one in Tipperary, in 

 1870, and one, in the same year, at Parsonstown, King's Count}'. 



Fa7nily—FALCONID^. 



Sparrow-Hawk. 



Accipiter nisus, IviNN. 



THE well-known Sparrow-Hawk is a Gos-Hawk in miniature, possessing all 

 the spirit and ferocit}' of its larger representative, and like it is a bird of 

 the woodlands. Although keepers regard it, and with justice, as one of their 

 most dangerous enemies, and destroy it and its nest whenever and wherever found, 

 still in man}' parts of the kingdom it is a common species, and it would seem as 

 if it was almost impossible to extirpate it. Its method of hunting for its prey 

 must be familiar to all d-wellers in the country, who have seen it as with rapid 

 flight it skimmed along some hedgerow, suddenly darting out its feet to capture 



