DOMESTIC HABITS OF THE SPABBOW-HAWK. 183 



the nesfc watched by me had been hatched only ten days, as far as 

 I could judge, when I left, and during the whole of this time it was 

 the habit of the female to take her meals on the nest, as well as 

 in trees, before coming to it. This would affect the habit of re- 

 moving the remains if, as seems likely, the hawk removes them, 

 when she does do so, only in order to devour them elsewhere. In 

 the account referred to it is mentioned that " a clatter arose in 

 the wood, and mobbed by a troop of small birds, especially 

 Blackbirds, the female hawk came flying down to the nest with 

 the body of a victim clutched in her claws." Only on one occa- 

 sion did I see anything at all resembling this, and that was when 

 the two Orioles followed the male, who was carrying booty, into 

 the plantation, though at a considerable distance. Otherwise 

 there was never any mobbing whatever. This small sombre 

 plantation was not, indeed, much frequented by small birds. 

 Still, there were some in it and many round it — as witness the 

 constant supply — which makes this difference somewhat remark- 

 able. The male hawk, too, must generally have flown up, with 

 his booty, over low trees and undergrowth — the coverts which he 

 seemed regularly to beat for game. It has often occurred to me 

 that the Cuckoo is much more frequently followed by small birds 

 than the Sparrow-Hawk, for which it is supposed to be mis- 

 taken ; and when sitting perched it is sometimes so persecuted 

 as to be driven from tree to tree, or right out of any small 

 plantation or coppice. This I have seen, and I have seen small 

 birds fly right at its head and peck it severely, when thus at 

 rest. On the deception theory, the Sparrow-Hawk should be 

 treated in the same way ; but is it ? I have also seen the 

 Turtle-Dove pursued by a small bird. Was it mistaken for a 

 Cuckoo, or could it have been for a hawk ? 



