BREEDING HABITS OF THE SPARROW-HAWK. 63 



should this be destroyed in winter, a new one will be con- 

 structed, but if this be robbed, then the nearest Magpie's or 

 Carrion Crow's will be occupied, and a few fresh strips of 

 bark just added as a lining" (" Birds of Lancashire," original 

 ed., p. 102). 



Many authorities do not allude to the mode of nesting in 

 this species in the works to which I have made reference. 

 This is unfortunate, as the list comprehends the names of 

 such unquestionably competent observers as Hancock, Ste- 

 venson, Wolley (in the work edited by Professor Newton), 

 Kodd, Knox, Cordeaux, Harvie-Brown and Buckley, Harting, 

 Mathew, &c. 



Are we to understand from Mr. Davenport's interesting 

 paper that the Sparrow-hawk " invariably " resorts, for 

 breeding purposes, to an old and discarded nest of some 

 other species ? If so, I take the liberty of dissenting a second 

 time, and that for reasons I will proceed to briefly relate. In 

 the spring of last year I found a nest not far from Battle 

 Abbey, which on my ascending the tree turned out to belong 

 to the Sparrow-hawk. The eggs were of that not uncommon 

 variety which is nearly devoid of colour, and I took them. 

 About a week thereafter I was again birds'-nesting in the 

 neighbourhood of the nest, when it occurred to me to make 

 a closer examination thereof, so as to satisfy myself whether 

 it was entirely the work of one species. I climbed the tree, 

 and seating myself on a branch, carefully took the structure 

 to pieces by removing the sticks separately. I have a distinct 

 recollection of the impression created by my examination, and 

 I have no fear in asserting that there was no evidence that 

 the late occupants had adapted a nest constructed by some 

 other species. 



I may perhaps further state that for many years I lived 

 in a part of Yorkshire* where the Sparrow-hawk outnumbers 

 the Crow by many individuals to one ; indeed, in the birds'- 

 nesting experience of my brother and myself, we never found 

 (nor heard of) a single nest of this latter bird in the woods 

 around our village, while it was by no means uncommon to 



* At Wilsden, near Bradford. 



