610 



12 



M. Delahaye, at Amiens, possesses, have the beak malformed or altered by an accident, they resemble perfectly 

 an individual which forms part of M. Hardy's collection, the beak excepted. In a letter to M. Degland the 

 latter gentleman says : — ( I have a male of this supposed species, killed here in May. I believed that I was 

 about to preserve a female, and was much surprised to find a male, well identified by the state of the genital 

 organs. The beak, far from resembling your drawing, which seems to me to indicate a freak of nature, is, like 

 all the other parts of the bird, in every respect similar to that of the common Sparrow-Hawk. There is only 

 a difference in size. Allow me to suspend my judgment.' Here is a fact well established by a practised 

 observer, in whom entire confidence can be placed : a male, judging from the size, has been mistaken for a 

 female. One cannot, moreover, venture to doubt the observations of the Comte de Tarragon. On the other 

 hand, M. de Brecourt has met with, in the neighbourhood of Vernon, many individuals, both males and 

 females, of this race ; and he has determined that, independently of the size, it can always be distinguished 

 from A. nisus by the absence of grey tints on the upper surface, and of the red on the underside, by the black 

 bands on the tail, which are larger, darker, and more numerous, and by the wings being relatively shorter." 

 M. Gerbe then gives the measurements of M. Hardy's supposed male, in comparison with a female Sparrow- 

 Hawk, tending to show that the male of the large race exceeds in size the female of the ordinary species. 



On this same subject that excellent observer, M. Bailly, observes, in his ' Ornithologie de la Savoie ' 

 (p. 76) : — " We further remark with us some females of larger dimensions than the preceding. My collection 

 contains a young bird 46 centims. in length. As this race is rare in our country, but more common in 

 Switzerland and the north, whence the greater part come to us in autumn and winter, I have examined them 

 and compared them carefully with other, smaller females captured at the same time ; and I could never discover 

 any differences beyond those of size. These large females belong to the Large Sparrow-Hawk (Falco nisus 

 major) of Becker and Meissner ; on the other hand, it is well known that this supposed species is nothing but a 

 different stage of plumage of the ordinary bird." In his lately published work on the birds of Italy, too, 

 Count Salvadori says : — " The Sparrow-Hawk varies a good deal in its dimensions, and large specimens have 

 even given rise to a new species (Accipiter major) ; in Italy, however, individuals are frequently seen which, 

 beyond the dimensions, offer no points of difference ; and, moreover, all that I have seen were females." 



We have received from Mr. Schliiter no less than six Swiss specimens, and Mr. Howard Saunders has 

 jent us two more ; so that we have eight examples now before us, of which the four females appear to us to 

 belong to the large race. We much regret that not a single date is attached to any of the specimens ; so that 

 we are unable to guess whether the birds examined were residents or migratory in the country. An adult 

 male, when compared with the Stettin bird described by us, is decidedly more blue-grey above, though similar 

 underneath ; the bars on the axillary plumes are broader, but this may be simply due to age ; bars on primaries 

 six, on tail five, on the outer feather six, exactly the same as in the German specimen. Total length 13-6 

 inches, culmen 0'7, wing 8, tail 6"4, tarsus 2'3, middle toe, without claw, 1"3. It may be possible that here 

 we have the true male of the larger race ; for the length is greater, and the wings and tail are not fully grown, 

 the bird not having finished moulting. As regards the supposed male of M. Hardy, mentioned by M. Gerbe 

 (supra), we cannot help thinking that the above-named naturalist was after all mistaken as to the sex. Three 

 young males received from Mr. Schliiter only differ from the birds described in being slightly paler, and in 

 having rather more of a grey shade above, while the markings on the breast are clearer and more pronounced; 

 one specimen has the throat distinctly striped, and the markings on the chest are rather oval in shape, and not 

 so triangular as in most of the young males examined; this last bird has five bars on the wing and tail, 

 whereas the other two have six on each. Total length 13-14 inches, culmen - 65, wing 7 - 6-7 - 9, tail 6 - 4, 

 tarsus l"15-l - 2, middle toe, without claw, l - 3. The specimen in which the variation is noticed is intermediate 

 in size between the other two individuals. Mr. Schliiter has likewise sent us a fully adult female, one of the 

 largest Sparrow-Hawks we have yet seen, and remarkably blue on the back ; the breast is much more thickly 

 banded than usual, and the throat more plainly striped, these markings collecting somewhat in the centre, and 

 forming an irregular median gular streak ; bars on primaries seven, on tail six, on the outer rectrix seven. 



