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dark. During the period of incubation the female never hunts for herself, but is supplied with 

 food by the male, who brings it to a picking-post, generally an old stump or root of a fallen tree 

 about forty or fifty yards off from the nest, where she flies to meet him, sometimes in her 

 impatience taking the food from him in the air. If the female is killed when the young birds 

 are unfledged, the male bird will continue feeding them until they are able to fly. In one 

 instance my brother (from whose personal observation most of these notes are furnished) shot 

 an old female as she flew off her nest, which contained eggs, and then set a trap on the nest for 

 the male ; but, to his surprise, on looking at it the next day, he found another female caught ; 

 this he thinks was only accidental, and that she happened to be passing through the wood at the 

 time and settled on the nest, with no intention, however, of hatching out the eggs. I see that 

 one of Macgillivray's correspondents states that it is difficult to catch a Sparrow-Hawk in a trap ; 

 but we have found it here a very easy matter, as the bird will always come to recover any game 

 which it has struck down itself; and the trap only requires to be carefully set. Another point I 

 may notice in the work above referred to, is the statement that this Hawk does not soar ; but I 

 myself have several times seen them flying round and round in circles, till at last they were lost 

 to sight aloft. This, however, is not a common habit of this species." Mr. Robson also sends 

 us a note : — " In Turkey they prefer wooded localities to breed in, building their nest in woods 

 and in the numerous glens and ravines which abound in this country, by the side of mountain- 

 streams. These are studded with trees and creeping plants, and from thence they have ready 

 access to the mountain-sides covered with low brushwood and scrub, where they can easily 

 procure their food, which consists principally of birds, though sometimes mice are found in their 

 stomachs." Mr. A. E. Knox, an excellent field-naturalist, gives the contents of a Sparrow- 

 Hawk's larder : — " There were fifteen young Pheasants about the size of Quails (some rather 

 larger), four young Partridges, five chickens, a Bullfinch, two Meadow-Pipits, and two Larks, all 

 in a fresh state." 



In his interesting little work the ' Birds of Sherwood Forest,' Mr. Sterland observes : — " Its 

 appearance is the signal for a general commotion ; and the cries of alarm which are uttered 

 when first the presence of the enemy is detected are well understood by various species, and 

 Swallows, Linnets, Chaffinches, and others instantly muster at the summons and join in hot 

 pursuit. I have noticed on these occasions that Linnets and Chaffinches usually follow in steady 

 chase, while now and then one more bold than his fellows will dart forward and make a 

 momentary attack on the Hawk, and then rejoin his companions; but the Swallows, with much 

 greater power of wing, fly wildly to and fro, now darting across his path, then shooting ahead 

 and again returning, all the time uttering cries of fear and hostility. The Sparrow-Hawk seems 

 generally to hold all his noisy persecutors in supreme contempt, excepting that now and then his 

 patience becomes exhausted, and, with a fierce sally, he sacrifices one of them to his resentment. 

 In this it shows more spirit than the Kestrel, which I have often observed to be apparently 

 annoyed, and more anxious to escape such boisterous recognition than to become the aggressor. 

 I have often remarked how quickly the poultry in my yard have caught sight of a Kestrel or a 

 Sparrow-Hawk on the wing. The watchful cock is generally the first to utter his warning cry, 

 which is immediately repeated by the hens ; and all, with head turned sideways, scan the course 

 of the intruder, those who have chickens instantly calling them together for protection until the 



