DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE SPABROW-HAWK. 181 



appearance of what I have sometimes seen the male and also the 

 female hawk carrying, or for its smallness. 



When on the nest the female Sparrow-Hawk takes no trouble 

 to eject her pellets, or castings, outside of it. I could not find 

 any under the home-tree, and upon two occasions I saw one 

 extruded into the cup of the nest. It is the same with the 

 dejecta both of the young and, presumably, her own. There is 

 no projection of them over or on to the nest's rim, and no sub- 

 sequent cleaning of the nest, in this respect, by the mother bird. 

 I have never seen anything of any sort or kind carried away 

 from the nest. 



The female hawk receives the supplies of the male, both for 

 herself and the chicks. She often makes her meal upon the nest, 

 and does not always share it with the latter. Her habits in this 

 respect may vary with the age of the chicks. 



The prey is torn up upon the rim of the nest, and two 

 special parts of it, opposite one another across the greatest 

 diameter, are made use of for this purpose. 



In covering the chicks the mother hawk invariably steps 

 from one of these places, where the dissection has taken place, 

 to the other, thus crossing the nest, and, turning round, settles 

 herself down with her head towards the place thus left. This 

 seems an odd performance, for it would surely be as easy for 

 her to cover from where she is and has, all the while, been 

 standing and distributing. The fixity of so trivial a habit is 

 therefore to be noted. It shows the force of routine — a factor 

 that may be of considerable importance in the philosophy of 

 bird antics, especially some stereotyped and apparently useless 

 ones, appertaining to combat. It would seem to be part of the 

 duties of the male Sparrow-Hawk, whilst in the neighbourhood 

 of the nest, to keep intruders away from it. 



So far as I am aware, the specialisation of the parental 

 duties in the Sparrow-Hawk is not shared by other raptorial 

 species, nor is the disparity of size between the male and female, 

 characteristic of the family, in their case so great. Possibly 

 these two facts may be inter-related. If, as would seem to be 

 the case, the Sparrow-Hawk is accustomed to pursue its quarry 

 into covert, and there seize it, the male, as the smaller, would 

 probably have an advantage over the female, and be the quicker 



