Tiercel; and tlie Sparrow-hawk did not attempt to carr^, but lield on his way. I jumped down and picked 
up the body of the Lark and the head, the two being entirely disunited. The velocity and force of the stoop 
must have been tremendous. I have often seen Grouse and Partridges ripped up the back and neck, and 
the skull laid bare ; but I never saw a head taken clean off before.” 
With what spirit and daring does this bird pursue its victims ! In the instance described by Mr. Hammond, 
the stoop was made close to his horse’s head ; but I have heard of a Sparrow-hawk pursuing a Finch between 
the legs of a man, where it had flown for shelter ; and in the course of my life I have know’n many instances 
of its dashing through or killing itself against a pane of glass in pursuit of a bird, or when flying at a caged 
bird within. 
The following characteristic note on the habits of the bird is from the Rev. J. C. Atkinson’s ‘ British 
Birds and their Nests ’: — 
“ If you hear some careful housewife of a hen skirling and fussing, in dire alarm, her terrified chicks the 
while seeking any possible shelter, you may be almost certain that the gliding form you caught a glance of 
rounding the corner of the barn was a Sparrow-hawk, and that some hapless Dove or Chicken has lost the 
number of his mess. Not that he does not like wild game as well as tame poultry. Mr. Selby mentions 
one nest containing five young ones, in or close to which were found a Peewit, two Blackbirds, a Thrush, 
and two Greenfinches, all fresh and half-plucked.” 
The nest of the Sparrow-hawk is placed on high trees or on the ledges of rocks, according to circumstances, 
and it not (infrequently adopts the flattened-down nest of a Crow or a Magpie. The eggs are bluish white, 
very beautifully blotched and marked with umbre and light reddish brown. Mr. Hewitson remarks that “the 
eggs, though usually very readily distinguished from those of any other species, are subject to varieties which 
sometimes rather resemble those of the Kestrel, but are never marked with the same rich colouring. There 
are some sjiecimens on which all the markings are very obscure and Indistinct, and others in which the dark 
blotches of colour are at the smaller instead of the larger end. I know' of no other egg which is so subject 
to this variety.” 
The young, for the first fortnight of their existence, are clothed with a greyish-white down, and it is while 
they are in the nest that the parents are so destructive ; on which subject I append a note written by Mr. 
Weir to the late Mr. Maegillivray, and published in his ‘ History of British Birds,’ vol. iil. p. 359. 
“ In one of the plantations on Boghead, for several years past, a pair of Sparrow-hawks have reared 
their young, either in the deserted nest of the Carrion-crow or Magpie. They were uncommonly bold, 
and with the rapidity of an arrow skimmed over the ground. Amongst Partridges, Pigeons, and other 
smaller birds they committed great destruction ; with almost unerring aim, they pounced upon their prey. 
From a hut, formed of the branches of trees, I watched for several hours the habits of a pair of these 
voracious birds whilst they were engaged in feeding their young, which were nearly half-fledged. During 
the time that I remained at it, the female continued to sit upon them. The male, at shorter or longer 
intervals, alighted upon the top of a tree, at the distance of about forty yards from the nest, with a bird in 
his talons. The female always took it from him, and divided it amongst her nestlings. Sometimes he 
arrived with a Blackbird or a Thrush, but more frequently wdth a Lark, a Yellow Bunting, or a Chaffinch. 
Being anxious to know whether the male is in the habit of feeding his offspring, I one morning, in a place 
of concealment, watched another pair of them for four or five hours. The male always alighted, as in the 
former case, upon the top of a tree at some distance from the nest, with a bird in his claw's, and called upon 
his mate, who came and caught hold of it in her bill. I shot her as she was carrying it to her young. 
About nine o’clock In the morning I went home. At six in the evening I returned with a boy, who climbed 
the tree to see what was in the nest. He had no sooner looked into it, than with astonishment he 
exclaimeci, ‘ Oh ! Sir, the poor little things are gasping.’ They were, in fact, almost suffocated by the 
dead birds about them. He threw down no less than sixteen, amongst wffiich were Larks, Yellow Buntings, 
Hedge-sparrows, and Green Linnets. I took home the young, which were four in number. They seemed 
not to have been fed during the day, as they were exceedingly hungry. In these tw'o instances it would 
seem that the male bird provided the food, but did not give it to his family. Whether this is always the 
case with the Sparrow-haw'k, I cannot ascertain until I have had further opportunities of observing their 
habits.” 
The Sparrow-hawk enjoys a wide range over the face of the earth, being found in all parts of Europe 
except the extreme north, in Northern Africa, Persia, in all the hilly parts of India, where it is highly prized 
by the natives for falconry, and is employed to capture Partridges, Quails, Coursers, and Sandgrouse ; and 
Mr. Swinhoe states that it is found from Canton to the Amoor, and also in Japan. My son, the late Dr. 
John Henry Gould, sent me fine male specimens of this bird from Scinde, w'hich on comparison with 
examples killed in this country presented no appreciable difference. 
The Plate represents an adult male of the natural size, w'hile the reduced figure is that of an old female 
in the act of seizing a Sparrow' from the ivy-clad w all of a garden. 
