THE ORNITHOLOGIST. 



Vol. I. JUNE, 189 6. No. 4. 



BEEEDING HABITS OF THE SPABBOW-HAWK. 

 By W. Buskin Butteefield, M.B.O.U. 



After thrice reading the paper of Mr. H. S. Davenport on 

 this subject (supra, p. 42), I find myself wholly unable to 

 assent to his designation as an " apparently little-known fact," 

 the appropriation and adaptation of other birds' nests by the 

 Sparrow-hawk, and I much regret that " space could not be 

 found for a series of extracts from the numerous ornithological 

 publications which adorn " his bookshelves. Limiting the 

 enquiry to British authorities, and to the writings of such of 

 these as are accessible to myself, I have sought the justifica- 

 tion of my dissent in the following extracts, the brevity of 

 which has emboldened me to ask the editor's indulgence. I 

 do not fear that a more comprehensive enquiry than I have 

 been able to make would have caused me to alter my opinion. 



Pennant and Montagu both are explicit, the former assert- 

 ing (" British Zoology," 1776, i., p. 199) of the Sparrow-hawk, 

 that it lays its eggs in " old nests of crows," and the latter 

 (" Ornithological Dictionary," i., s.v., Hawk-sparrow) that it 

 " seldom makes a nest, but generally takes possession of that 

 which has been deserted by a crow " — an opinion shared by 

 his editor Eennie (op. cit., ed. 1831, p. 487). 



Without observing chronology, I will next quote from the 

 late Mr. E. T. Booth (" Descriptive Catalogue of Birds," ed. i., 



