627 



29 



danger is past. "We hear from all parts of the country of the large amount of damage done to 

 the crops by Woodpigeons. In some districts of England and Scotland meetings have been held 

 to devise means for their destruction; for they have enormously increased of late years. We 

 cannot wonder at this ; for their natural enemies are unrelentingly extirpated ; and the Sparrow- 

 Hawk is especially a foe to the Woodpigeon, preferring it to any other quarry. During the first 

 week in the present year (1869) a flock of these birds passed over Barnet which was estimated to 

 be a mile long, and to contain from 8000 to 10,000 in number." 



In our account of the Hobby we have given an anecdote of its habit of teasing the Cranes ; 

 and in Mr. Buller's ' Birds of New Zealand ' a similar case is detailed of the Falcon of the 

 country, Hieracidea novae zealandice. The Sparrow-Hawk would seem occasionally to indulge in 

 this propensity, as will be seen by the following note taken from Thompson's ' Birds of Ireland:' 

 — " Once, at the end of July, when walking along the side of the river Lagan, near Belfast, I was 

 attracted by the loud screams of Herons, which appeared above the trees at the north-west 

 extremity of Belvoir Park. A couple of these giants of the air kept flying above the tops of the 

 trees with tremendous uproar, in consequence of the presence of a single Sparrow-Hawk ! This 

 bird was circling about ; and the Herons awkwardly and quite unavailingly endeavoured to strike 

 him. Flying quite at ease, his turns were so short, and at the same time so full of grace, that he 

 seemed to laugh to scorn their heavy lumbering movements. The Herons' savage cries were 

 apparently (evidently might almost be said) caused by the Hawk's make-believe attempt to carry 

 off their young, as they were particularly violent and vociferous whenever he made a swoop (as I 

 remarked him to do thrice) at the top of a particular tree. It seemed a mere play or bravado on 

 the part of the Hawk, as he could easily, in spite of the Herons, have borne off the contents of 

 the nest at any time, were the prey not too bulky for his purpose. Mr. R. Longtry has not only 

 observed a wild Sparrow-Hawk strike his Sea-eagles when perching on their sheds, but when his 

 Golden Eagle was on wing has seen one of these birds strike it in passing, and once even 

 witnessed the Hawk's turning back and repeating the impertinence." 



Many records have been published of the audacity of the Sparrow-Hawk ; and Mr. Eobert 

 Gray gives the following account : — " A very singular instance of daring in a Sparrow-Hawk 

 occurred at Dingwall, in Ross-shire, in November 1870. The bird seeing a caged Canary sus- 

 pended near a window in a house of Mr. Grigor, from whom I learned the details, dashed 

 through a pane of glass, broke the cage with the impetus of the same blow, and killed its prey 

 as if the deed had been accomplished without any such obstruction as glass or wires. When 

 apprehended it was found that the Hawk had, some time before, been trapped by one of its legs, 

 which was wholly gone from the thigh downwards." These notices might be varied ad infinitum ; 

 for the boldness of the present species forms the subject of frequent communications to the 

 ' Field' and other scientific periodicals. Herr Karl Miiller (J. f. 0. 1868, p. 245) gives an account 

 of a Sparrow-Hawk attacking a Squirrel. 



The Sparrow-Hawk prepares its nest in April, and either builds one itself or else makes use 

 of a deserted Crow's nest, which it lines with moss and hair. The eggs, which are sometimes as 

 many as six or seven in number, are white in colour, with a bluish tinge, marked all over with 

 patches and dashes of reddish brown, occasionally varied with purple. We have a series of eggs 

 now before us, out of Dresser's collection, procured in various parts of Europe, which vary from 



