190 
OUR HOME BIRDS. 
birds to hawks, but the latter are a large and inter- 
esting class of birds, and there was some danger of 
our forgetting them.” 
“Are they interesting?” asked Clara in surprise. 
“ Patrick says they are horrid.” 
“ They are not interesting like the humming-birds,” 
replied her governess, “ in being tiny and beautiful, 
and they certainly do make sad havoc among the 
chickens ; but we shall find them well worth study- 
ing. There are several different kinds of hawks, 
which all have their own particular name, but the 
object of Patrick’s indignation is known as the 
sparrow-hawk, from his fondness for small birds. 
He is ten or eleven inches long, and of a reddish- 
brown color, curiously streaked with black, while 
seven spots of black on a white ground surround 
the head. The lower parts are yellowish-white 
streaked with brown. The female is larger and 
handsomer than the male, as is the case among 
birds of prey, to which class the sparrow-hawk 
belongs. (Fig. 15.) 
“ 4 The habits and manners of this bird are well 
known. It flies rather irregularly, occasionally sus- 
pending itself in the air, hovering over a particular 
spot for a minute or two, and then shooting off in 
another direction. It perches on the top of a dead 
tree or pole in the middle of a field or meadow, and 
