162 A PEACTICAL HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



57.7x44.8. Max.: 61.1x48.2. Min. : 51.3x42.1 and 53.5 X 

 41.5 mm. Breeding-season. — From beginning of April in south to 

 April 20th-May 10th in Alaska (Bendire). Incubation-period. — 

 About four weeks but not precisely known. Probably entirely by 

 female. Single brooded. 



Food. — Mammals and birds up to considerable size. Mammals 

 include Arctic hare, lemming, squirrel, jack-rabbit, weasel, mouse, 

 etc. Birds : Ruffed Grouse, wild Pigeons, duck (various species), 

 Ptarmigan, Flickers, domestic poultry, Virginian Colin. Also 

 beetles, orthoptera (locusts), larvae of lepidoptera and centipedes 

 (Fisher). 



Distribution. — Ireland. — One, an adult male, shot near Strabane 

 (co. Tyrone), Feb. 24th, 1919 (ut supra). One said shot near 

 Shechallion (Perths.) about May 1869 (Ibis, 1870, p. 292), another 

 in Galtee Mts. (Tipperary), February 1870 (op. cit., p. 538), and 

 another shortly afterwards near Parsonstown (King's co.) (Zool., 

 1871, p. 2525). 



Distribution. — Abroad. — North America from north-west Alaska, 

 north-west Mackenzie, central Keewatin and north Ungava to 

 Michigan and New Hampshire, and in mountains south to Penn- 

 sylvania and New Mexico. Winters from Alaska and south Canada 

 to north Mexico, Texas, Missouri, Indiana and Virginia. 



ACCIPITER NISUS 



262. Accipiter nisus nisus (L.) — THE SPARROW-HAWK. 



Falco Nisus Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. x, i, p. 92 (1758 — "Habitat in 



Europa." Restricted typical locality : Sweden). 



Accipiter nisus (Linnaeus), Yarrell, 1, p. 88 ; Saunders, p. 333. 



Description (Plate 4). — Adult male. Winter and summer. — Whole 

 upper-parts dark slate, feathers of fore-head often edged cream to 

 rufous, feathers over eyes, base of crown and nape white with slate 

 tips, concealed portions of scapulars with considerable but varying 

 amount of white narrowly barred with more or less rufous, longer 

 upper tail-coverts narrowly tipped white ; feathers of lores bristle- 

 like, black with tufts of white at base ; upper part of ear-coverts 

 dark slate, lower part of ear-coverts and cheeks rufous, feathers 

 often with dark brown shaft-streaks ; chin and throat white to 

 rufous -buff finely streaked dark brown ; rest of under-parts white 

 closely and narrowly barred mixture of rufous and dark brown 

 (bars varying in width and usually narrower on belly and tibia than 

 on breast and flanks), some fine dark brown shaft-streaks on breast 

 (amount of rufous varies considerably individually, most marked 

 on sides and flanks where it often covers most of the feathers obscur- 

 ing the bars and occasionally whole breast and flanks are thus 

 suffused with rufous) ; under tail-coverts white, sometimes with a 

 few broken brown bars ; axillaries white barred rufous and brown ; 



