XI THE SPARROWHAWK loj 



though I have sometimes endeavoured to tame one, I could 

 never succeed in rendering him at all familiar. As he disdains 

 to eat any animal not killed by himself, he is a very difficult 

 bird to trap. The best chance of catching him is in what is 

 called a pole-trap, placed on a high post in the middle of an 

 open part of the country ; for this hawk has (in common with 

 many others) the habit of perching on upright railings and 

 posts, particularly as in the open plains, where he principally 

 hunts, there are but few trees, and he seldom perches on the 

 ground. His flight is leisurely and slow when searching for 

 game ; but his dart, when he has discovered his prey, is incon- 

 ceivably rapid and certain. 



There is another most destructive kind of hawk who 

 frequently pays us a visit — the sparrowhawk.^ Not content 

 with the partridges and o'Cs\&x ferce naturce, this bold little free- 

 booter invades the poultry-yard rather too frequently. The 

 hens scream, the ducks quack, and rush to the cover of the 

 plantations ; whilst the tame pigeons dart to and fro amongst 

 the buildings, but in vain. The sparrowhawk darts like an 

 arrow after one of the latter birds, and carries it off, though the 

 pigeon is twice or three times his own weight. The woman 

 who takes care of the poultry runs out, but is too late to see 

 anything more than a cloud of white feathers, marking the place 

 where the unfortunate pigeon was struck. Its remains are, 

 however, generally found at some little distance ; and when this 

 is the case, the hawk is sure to be caught, as he invariably 

 returns to what he has left, and my boys bring the robber to 

 me in triumph before many days elapse. Sometimes he returns 

 the same day to finish picking the bones of the bird, but often 

 does not come back for two or three. In the meantime, what- 

 ever part of the pigeon he has left is pegged to the ground, and 

 two or three rat-traps are set round it, into one of which he 

 always contrives to step. When caught, instead of seeming 

 frightened, he flies courageously at the hand put down to pick 

 him up, and fights with beak and talons to the last. Occasion- 

 ally, when standing still amongst the trees, or even when passing 



^ Accipiter nisus. In the remoter districts of the west of Scotland it is not nearly 

 so numerous as the merlin or kestrel, owing to the lack of wooded localities, in which it 

 delights. It is a great foe to partridges and domestic poultry. ' ' The female sparrow- 

 hawk would be the game-preserver's worst enemy did it not vary its diet by an occasional 

 wood-pigeon or some such heavy bird of little consequence " (Gray, p. 41). 



