OF BIRDS. 
17 ? 
or bars of black; the tail is long, of an ash colour, and 
! crossed with four or five dusky bars; the legs are yellow* 
and the claws black; the wings are much shorter than 
the tail.— It feeds on mice and small birds, and eagerly 
: devours raw flesh; it plucks the birds very neatly, and 
tears them into pieces before it eats them, but swallows 
the pieces entire; and frequently disgorges the hair rolled 
up in small pellets. 
The goshawk is found in France and Germany; it is 
not very common in this country, but is more frequent in 
Scotland; it is likewise common in North America, Rus® 
sia, and Siberia: in Chinese Tartary there is a variety 
which is mottled with brown and yellow, that are used 
for sporting by the nobility. 
Sparrow-Hawk. ( Falco Sparverius . PL 26.) This 
! bird is somewhat larger than a common pigeon: the bill 
is short and hooked, the tail rather long, and the legs 
slender and of a reddish colour. The plumage on the 
wings and upper parts of the body is brown, spotted with 
| a yellowish dun; the lower parts in some are whitish; in 
others of a russet colour. 
The female builds her nest in hollow trees , high rocks, 
©r lofty ruins, sometimes in the old nest of a crow, and 
generally lays four or five eggs, marked with reddish 
spots at the longer end. Its bill is blue, furnished with 
bristles at the base, which overhang the nostrils; the co- 
lour of the eye is bright orange; the head is flat at the 
top, and above each eye is a strong bony projection; a 
few scattered spots of white form a faint line running 
| backward towards the neck: the top of the head and all 
| the upper parts of the body are of a dusky brown co- 
lour; on the back part of the head there is a faint line of 
white; the scapulars are marked with two sorts of white 
on each feather; the greater quill feathers and the tail 
are dusky, with four bars of a darker hue on each; the 
inner edges of all the quills are marked with two or more 
large white spots; the tips of the tail feathers are whiter 
the breast, belly, and under coverts of the wings and 
thighs are white, beautifully barred with brown; the 
throat is faintly streaked with brown; the legs and feet 
are yellow; claws black. 
