625 



27 



Magpie. They were uncommonly bold, and with the rapidity of an arrow skimmed over the 

 ground. Amongst Partridges, Pigeons, and other small birds they committed great destruction. 

 With almost unerring aim they pounced upon their prey. From a hut formed of the branches 

 of trees I watched for several hours the habits of a pah of these voracious birds whilst they were 

 engaged in feeding their young, which were nearly half-fledged. During the time that I remained 

 in it the female continued to sit upon them. The male, sometimes at shorter, and at other times 

 at longer intervals, alighted upon the top of a tree, at the distance of about forty yards from the 

 nest, with a bird in his talons. The female always took it from him, and divided it amongst her 

 nestlings. Sometimes he arrived with a Blackbird or a Thrush, but more frequently with a Lark, 

 a Yellow Bunting, or a Chaffinch. Being anxious to know whether the male is in the habit of 

 feeding his offspring, I one morning, in a place of concealment, watched another pair of them for 

 four or five hours. The male always alighted, as in the former case, with a bird in his claws, and 

 called upon his mate, who came and caught hold of it in her bill. I shot her as she was carrying 

 it to her young. About nine o'clock in the morning I went home. At six in the evening I 

 returned with a boy, who climbed the tree to see what was in the nest. He had no sooner looked 

 into it, than with astonishmeut he exclaimed, ' Ah ! Sir, the poor little things are gasping.' They 

 were in fact almost suffocated by the dead birds about them. He threw down no less than six- 

 teen, amongst which were Larks, Yellow Buntings, Chaffinches, Hedge-Sparrows, and Green Linnets. 

 I took home the young, which were four in number. They seemed not to have been fed during 

 the day, as they were exceedingly hungry. In these two instances it would appear that the 

 male bird provided the food, but did not give it to his family. Whether this is always the 

 case with the Sparrow-Hawk I cannot ascertain until I have further opportunities of observing 

 their habits.'" 



For the following original observations we are indebted to our friend Mr. A. Basil Brooke, 

 who writes from Colebrooke : — " The habits of the Sparrow-Hawk are entirely woodland ; and it 

 is rarely to be found at any distance from some cover, which they hunt through with a gliding 

 flight, often close to the ground, with a rapid noiseless swoop, over hedges and round corners, 

 surprising their prey long before the latter has any idea of danger. They will take almost any 

 thing that comes in their way, from a well-grown young Pheasant or Babbit to a small bird; but 

 I think their principal food consists of Blackbirds, Chaffinches, &c. Frequently here, when the 

 keeper is rearing Pheasants on a certain hill, an old hen Sparrow-Hawk, who has her young in 

 the vicinity, makes it her habit to pay him daily visits; and in spite of all his vigilance and 

 watchfulness, so sudden and rapid are her swoops that she often succeeds in robbing him before 

 his face ; sooner or later, however, she pays the penalty of her temerity with her life. In the 

 woods about here they generally build their own nests, sometimes, but rarely, renewing the old 

 one of the year before. They are very local, always inhabiting the same wood year after year, 

 notwithstanding that the old birds had been killed the previous season. The young are generally 

 four in number ; but on one occasion I have found six. They hang about the wood in which the 

 nest is situated for some time after they have quitted their habitation, squealing and crying loudly, 

 and they can thus be easily discovered and destroyed. Sparrow-Hawks hunt till very late in the 

 evening, and roost night after night in the same wood, choosing the most swampy, wet, dismal 

 spot ; and they may be seen gliding noiselessly into their roosting-place just as it is getting quite 



