148 
HAWKS. 
for a representation of the egg of the Sparrow 
Hawk. 
In Britain, and, indeed, in Europe, the varieties 
of this form are very limited, Accipiter and Astur 
being hitherto the only genera admitted. Those 
seem to be most numerously distributed in Ame- 
rica, Africa, and New Holland ; Asia and Europe 
possessing the least number of species, while the 
distribution of our British birds is not very widely 
extended. The Gos-hawk is known only as 
European ; the species of America, though nearly 
allied, being distinct, while we have no authenti- 
cated instance of our own bird occurring there. 
The Sparrow-hawk is European, and we have the 
authority of Temminck for specimens occurring 
in Japan, and we believe that it also occurs in 
alpine India. 
The Gos and Sparrow-hawks were formerly 
united together under the generic title of either 
Astur or Accipiter, as it pleased their describers. 
They have been separated by modern systema- 
tists, and the distinctive characters rest chiefly 
on a difference of size, and in the tarsi of Acci- 
piter being very slender, with the scales smooth, 
and united at the joinings. The distribution of 
the colours of the plumage, and the habits of 
both genera, however, agree remarkably, and we 
