BREEDING HABITS OF THE SPARROW-HAWK. 83 



By H. S. Davenport. 



It might seem to savour of discourtesy were I to pass un- 

 noticed the correspondence under this heading in the June issue 

 of the Ornithologist, and yet, beyond essaying to elucidate 

 one or two apparently obscure points in my original paper, I 

 have practically nothing more to say that can be considered 

 rigidly pertinent to the discussion. First and foremost, how- 

 ever, most assuredly is no such inference warrantable as that 

 the Sparrow-hawk invariably resorts for breeding purposes to 

 an old and discarded nest of some other species. The late 

 Mr. Seebohm is regarded, I believe, as one of our most valued 

 standard authorities, and I for one should think twice before 

 presuming to oppose his dictum that the " Sparrow-hawk 

 always builds its own nest," with the 'statement, in effect, that 

 it never by any chance does anything of the kind ! On the 

 other hand, the inference that may be legitimately drawn from 

 my remarks is that the Sparrow-hawk, according to my own 

 individual experience, invariably founds its nest on the ancient 

 basis of that of some other species, and if Mr. A. Holte Mac- 

 pher son will glance at my paper again, I think he will perceive 

 the value of a qualification which has seemingly escaped his 

 notice. 



Mr. W. Buskin Butterfield joins issue with me on another 

 count - — ■ well, what did I aver was an " apparently little- 

 known fact?" Simply this, to requote Mr. W. H. Hudson, 

 " that it is probable that in nearly all cases the Sparrow-hawk 

 takes possession of an old nest of some other bird " in contra- 

 distinction, be it observed, to the alleged fact, as stated by an 

 anonymous reviewer in the Athenceum, that it generally builds 

 its own nest. And so most deferentially I aver again. More- 

 over, instead of assisting to disprove my contention, the 

 excerpts from Mr. Howard Saunders' invaluable "Manual" 

 and from the fourth edition of Yarrell's " British Birds, with 

 which Mr. Butterfield concludes a list of quotations intended 

 for my discomfiture, most surely serve to prove it. Therein is 

 laid down the precise teaching which Mr. Hudson traverses. 

 Indeed, the only extracts (as I think) confirmatory of Mr. 

 Butterfield's argument are those from Pennant, Montague, 



