SPARKOW-HAWK. 135 



ACCIPITER NISUS. 

 SPARROW-HAWK. 



(Plate 4.) 



Accipiter accipiter, Briss. Orn. i. p. :',10 (17G0). 



Falco nisus, Linn. Si/st. A'af. i. p. l.'JO (17(j(;j; et auctorum plurimorum — iV«m- 



matin, Tarrell, (Pallas), (Gray), (Nezv.'un), (S/iarpe), kc. 

 D8f3dalion fringillarius, Sav. Ois. d'JEiji/pti', p. :j4 (1810J. 



lerax f ringillari us (Sub.), Leach, iSi/of. Cat. Maimn. 8,-c. Brit. Miis. p. 10 (1810j. 

 Sparvius nisus (Linn.), Vieill. N. Bid. d'lList. Kat. x. p. 31 !l (1817). 

 Accipiter fringillarius (Sav.), Viij. Zuol. Journ. i. p. .'i3s (1Kl;4). 

 Accipiter nisus (Linn.), Pall, Zoogr. Iivsso-..is. i. p. 370 (18-!G). 

 Buteo nisus (Linn.), Flem. Brit. ^In. 1. p. 5") (1828). 

 Astur nisus (Liim.), Cuv. Meyne An. i. p. 333 (Isi'tt). 

 Nisus communis, Less. Traite d'Orn. p. 58 (1831). 

 Falco nisosimilis, Tichell, Journ. ^l.s. »S'oc. Beng. ii. p. 571 (1833). 

 Accipiter nisosimilis (Till-.), Blyth, .Tmnui. As. Soc. Benij. xii. p. 311 (1843). 

 Astur major, Deyl. Orn. Bur. i. p. 86 (1840, ex Behker). 

 Nisus fringiUai-ius (Sar.), Kaup, Contr. Orn. 1850, p. 64. 

 Nisus major (Deyl.), Jaub. Mots. Bur. Orn. p. l'9 (1851). 



This handsome little species is the commonest and at the same time 

 most extensively distributed of our native diurnal birds of prey. A Gos- 

 hawk in miniature, elegant in form, agile and graceful in movement, the 

 Sparrow-Hawk is an interesting ornament to the woods and fields ; yet, 

 from its boldness and destructive habits, but little favour is shown to it, 

 and the game-preservers and poultry-keepers wage an incessant war of 

 extermination against it. Throughout the ^vhole of Great Britain and 

 Ireland it is a common species in all well-wooded and cultivated localities. 

 In the wild and comparatively treeless districts of Ireland, the west of 

 Scotland, the Hebrides, the north of Scotland, and the Orkney and Shet- 

 land Islands the Sparrow-Hawk becomes much rarer, and in many of these 

 localities, notably in Shetland, it is only known as a summer visitor. In 

 England and Wales and the Channel Islands it is a resident and widely 

 distributed bird, very common in all the game-coverts, woodlands, and 

 Partridge- grounds, up to the suburbs of our most populous cities; but 

 in many districts the incessant persecution to which it is subject has 

 sensibly decreased its numbers. 



The Sparrow-Hawk is found commonly throughout Europe up to the 

 limit of forest-growth, about lat. 69°. In the northern limits of its range 

 it is a migratory species, wintering in South Europe and North-east Africa, 

 beino- very common in Egypt, Kordofan, and Sennaar. It breeds in 

 Algeria, accordiug to Loche, and also in the Canaries. In Asia it extends 



