144 FALCONID^. 



three examples in Ireland cannot be verified. It is believed 

 to have nested in Yorkshire in May 1893, and is said to have 

 bred formerly in the forests of Spey?ide in Scotland. 



General Distribution. — The Goshawk breeds in Europe, 

 northern and central Asia, and north-west Africa ; from 

 Scandinavia and Russia southwards to Spain and the Black 

 and Caspian seas ; also in Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. 

 In winter it visits north Africa, Palestine, the lower elevations 

 of the Himalaya, and China. Races have been recognised 

 in Sardinia and in eastern Asia. 



Genus ACCIPITER Brisson, Orn. i. 1760, p. 310. 

 Type : A. nisus Linn. 



Acc'ipUer:=a, Hawk, in classical Latin, from the same roots as w*cu7r6njs= 

 Bwift-flying, the name of a Harpy in Hesiod, Th. 267. 



Accipiter nisus. Spareow-Hawk. 



Falco nisus Liimwus, Syst. Nat. 1758, p. 92 : Sweden. 



Accipiter nisus {Linn.) ; Sharpe, Cat. Birds S. M. i. 1874, 

 p. 132; B. 0. U. List, 1st ed. 1883, p. 98; Saunders, 

 Manual, 2nd ed. 1899, p. 833. 



Nisus, a mythical king of Megara, had his purple hair cut ofP by his 

 daughter Scylla in order that she might gain the love of Minos. He lost his 

 kingdom and was turned into a Sparrow- Hawk (Virgil, Georg. i. 405 seqq. ; 

 Ciris, 110 seqq.). 



Distrihution in the British Islands. — A Resident, gene- 

 rally distributed in woodland districts ; consequently, it is rare 

 in the Shetland and Orkney Islands and the Outer Hebrides. 

 It is an autumn migrant on the east coast of Great Britain. 



General Distribution. — The Sparrow-Hawk breeds in 

 Europe, northern and central Asia, and north Africa, from 

 the limits of forest-growth in Scandinavia and north Russia 

 to Kamchatka and Japan, southwards to Morocco, Algeria, 

 Tunisia, and the Himalaya. In winter it visits Abyssinia, 

 Arabia, the Peninsula of India and China. Racial forms have 

 been recognised in Madeira, the Canary Islands, north-west 

 AErica, Corsica, Sardinia, and various parts of Asia. 



