Chapter XLII. 



HAWKS AND HARRIERS. 



We now come to a more daring member of the raptorial 

 family than perhaps any other, the Sparrow Hawk {Accipitef 

 nisus). One can hardly fail when reading of the boldness of 

 this little bird — he is less than a foot long and weighs but 

 five or six ounces — to remember the action of the tiny British 

 war-vessels against the huge, unwieldy Spanish craft when 

 the "Invincible Armada" was making its lumbering way up 

 channel, for even the eagles are not immune from his attacks. 

 The king of birds himself, the golden eagle, has been known 

 to relinquish his prey as the result of persistent annoyance 

 by a sparrow-hawk! 



Accipiter nisus is so well known that detailed description 

 is hardly necessary. When he alights, his attitude aids in- 

 his identification. He stands almost bolt upright, the long 

 legs (a characteristic of his tribe) lifting him well above his 

 perch. Another characteristic is his short beak. For the 

 rest, his transversely barred breast, and the colouring of his 

 back and wings are much the same as in many others of the 

 raptores. He is a lover of wooded districts, in which he 

 makes bird food his almost sole sustenance. The kestrel 

 preys on the smaller quadrupeds. Accipiter nisus rarely looks, 

 at them, but anything winged and within his strength to carry 

 off is in danger when he ^is by, except that he, too, obeys the 

 law of the jungle and will often, if not always, suffer his 

 immediate neighbours to live their lives in peace and safety. 

 His Alight is bold and dashing, causing him no apparent 

 exertion, the few flaps which, he is seen to make with his 

 wings now and then serving to give him pace enough to glide 

 along a valley, curving gracefully up over clumps of trees 

 without apparently moving a feather and sinking again on 

 the other side so as to keep just that distance above ground 

 which experience has taught to be best for his purpose. It 

 is the female which does most damage amongst the grown up 

 game birds, such as partridges or grouse. She is somewhat 

 bigger, and sometimes twice the weight of her partner, 

 who for his own purposes keeps to the smaller birds, snipe, 

 quail, thrushes, blackbirds, etc., etc. That the gamekeeper 

 is right, from his point of view, in waging incessant 

 war against this marauder is certain, for there is on, 



