616 



18 



the wing- and tail-coverts ; the hinder neck is pale tawny, the brown centres to the feathers giving a mottled 

 aspect ; the head and nape are much varied with white, especially the former, which has a striped appearance. 

 The under surface of the body is whitish, the throat and upper breast longitudinally striped with brown, these 

 stripes on the latter widening out slightly towards the apex, the lower part of the body crossed by narrow 

 brownish bars ; bars on the primaries six, on tail five. 



Obs. After a careful study of the present species, which has occupied us nearly two months, we have to 

 regret that the material examined has not proved sufficient to give any definite result regarding the Sparrow- 

 Hawk. It would appear, however, that the bird from the British islands is darker than the ordinary species 

 of the Continent, and that the birds, especially the females, are more powerful. The individuals from 

 Switzerland are decidedly large, and the females get very blue on the back. From South-eastern Europe and 

 Palestine the specimens examined present some differences, and point to the probable existence of a distinct 

 bird inhabiting those parts, and perhaps extending into India. Further research in the direction of India and 

 China will doubtless discover some differences in the eastern bird. Mr. Hume's new species (A. melaschistus) 

 is, we think, undoubtedly distinct ; but the immature stages require further elucidation. In China, the birds 

 examined are more powerful than most western specimens, while the immature stages appear to be considerably 

 lighter. A much larger series, however, must be examined before any deductions can be drawn, and the 

 history of the Swedish bird fully worked out. 



Explanation of the Plates. 



Plate I. represents an adult male from Germany on the left, a mature but not fully adult female in the 

 centre, and a young male on the right, these two specimens being from England. 



Plate II. represents the fully adult female, with rufous tufts on the flanks, the example being from 

 Switzerland, in our own collection, and probably referable to A. major. On the left is a figure of Lord 

 Huntly's curious female bird. 



Plate III. illustrates the rufous-breasted male in our own collection, and also the birds (from Ireland) lent 

 us by Mr. A. Basil Brooke. 



Plate IV. gives an illustration of the Turkish and Palestine Sparrow-Hawks, which, we bebeve, are 

 referable to a distinct species, the adult and younger birds being in Canon Tristram's collection, and the 

 young bird on the left being the one fully described above (Havankeuy) . 



The Sparrow-Hawk is a very well-known and plentiful species, and is found throughout the 

 entire Palsearctic Region. It is more abundant in Europe than in any other portion of this area, 

 and, from all accounts, becomes rarer towards Eastern Siberia and Japan ; nor does it seem to be 

 very common in China. It is, however, frequently seen in collections from India, in which 

 country it is partially resident in the Himalayas, but is better known as a winter migrant : at 

 the last-named season it likewise visits North-eastern Africa, where it is common in Egypt, 

 extending into Kordofan and Sennaar. 



In the British Islands it is generally distributed, from the high north down to the southern 

 counties; for Mr. J. Brooking Howe tells us it is common and breeds in Devonshire, and 

 Mr. Rodd says that in Cornwall also it is generally distributed. Mr. A. G. More, in his well- 

 known essay on the distribution of birds in the British Isles during the nesting-season, gives 

 its range as follows : — " throughout Great Britain, extending to the outer Hebrides and north 

 Scottish isles." In his recently published work, Mr. Robert Gray states : — " In the remoter 

 districts of the west of Scotland this daring and destructive bird is not nearly so numerous 

 as the Merlin or the Kestrel. This scarcity is of course attributable to the partiality which 



