620 



22 



Odessa in large numbers late in November, and reappear about the end of February." Radde 

 writes : — " The Sparrow-Hawk winters occasionally in the non-evergreen woods at Jeni-Sala 

 (South Russia), feeding principally on the Thrushes that remain over winter with us." De 

 Filippi found it in Persia. 



Dr. Jerdon, in the Birds of India, remarks : — " The Sparrow-Hawk of England is a cold- 

 weather visitant to India, coming in very regularly about the beginning of October, and leaving 

 again about the end of February or March, according to the locality. It is found throughout 

 India in suitable places, chiefly in hilly and jungly districts, but not in dense forests in general. 

 I have got it on the Neilgherries ; abundant on the eastern Ghauts, where many are caught 

 every year, and in all the hilly countries of Central India, and on the Himalayas. At Darjeeling 

 it may frequently be seen in cleared ground, circling about on the watch for any bird that may 

 pass over." More recently he writes : — " I believe that a few pairs only breed on some of the 

 higher ranges of the Himalayas. I have killed it in July in Gulmurg, in Kashmir, at 10,000 

 feet elevation. When Dr. Stoliczka says it is ' more common on the lower hills than in the 

 interior,' I presume he means either very early in the year or in the autumn, i. e. during the 

 periods of migration ; for I greatly doubt its breeding in such localities." Mr. Hume's ' Rough 

 Notes ' contains the following observations : — " A Sparrow-Hawk, but whether the present or the 

 next species (A. melaschistus) I am unable to decide, breeds commonly enough in woody valleys 

 in the interior of the Himalayas. I have repeatedly seen their nests, and once (in May) took one 

 about two marches on the Mussourie side of Gungootree, containing four bluish-white red-blotched 

 eggs, exactly like (it seemed to me) the Sparrow-Hawk's eggs I had so often taken as a boy at 

 home. Unfortunately I was then a mere sportsman, and troubled myself little about any thing 

 but game, and therefore neither shot the parent nor preserved the eggs. Captain Thompson, of 

 Simla, assures me that two pairs of the Sparrow-Hawk breed yearly in Anandale, just below 

 Simla, laying in May and June." Dr. Leith Adams records the Sparrow-Hawk as pretty 

 common in the N.W. Himalayas; and Major Irby procured it at Alumbagh in January 1858. 

 Major Bulger saw this bird frequently in Sikkim, but only obtained two specimens. It even 

 extends into Ceylon, according to Hartlaub ; but this statement probably rests on the authority 

 of Kelaart, who most likely mistook the species. 



In Siberia Pallas says it is not uncommon in the temperate parts, but only remains in the 

 south during the winter, on account of the cold. Dr. von Middendorff found it everywhere on 

 the Stanowoj mountains, where he first saw it on the 26 th of April ; and Dr. von Schrenck says 

 "that he observed a Sparrow-Hawk on the Lower Amoor in July 1855, but did not succeed in 

 procuring it." 



This bird was first included in the Japanese avifauna by MM. Temminck and Schlegel ; and 

 the catalogue of the Leiden Museum, recently published by the last-named author, shows a good 

 series of specimens contained therein from this particular locality. Captain Blakiston writes in 

 his paper on Japanese birds in ' The Ibis ' : — " My specimen of this Hawk was obtained from a 

 native bird-catcher ; but I have no reason to think that it was brought from any distant locality ; 

 in fact, the Japanese at Hakodadi, although passionately fond of keeping cage-birds, confine 

 themselves almost entirely to their native feathered friends." Mr. Whitely also shot one 

 example of the present bird at Hakodadi, on the 25th of November 1864. Mr. Swinhoe gives 



