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THE SPARROW-HAWK.

kind courtesy, she changed her former hatred towards him, accepting him as her husband in marriage, and made him a man of wealthy possessions.

Barry Cornwall has elaborated this story into a fine dramatic poem, in which the repentant master thus apostrophises the bird he has felt constrained to kill:

Mars! my brave bird, and have I killed thee, then,

Thou wast the truest servant-fed me, loved,
When all the world had left me?-Never more
Shall thou and I in mimic battle play,
Nor thou pretend to die (to die, alas!),
And with thy quaint and frolic tricks delight
Thy master in his solitude. No more,

No more, old Mars! (thou wast the god of birds)
Shalt thou rise fiercely on thy plumed wing,
And hunt the air for plunder: thou couldst ride,
None better, on the fierce and mountain winds,
When birds of lesser courage droop'd. I've seen
Thee scare the wandering Eagle on his way,
(For all the wild tribes of these circling woods
Knew thee, and shunn'd thy beak), and thro' the air
Float like a hovering tempest feared by all.
Have I not known thee bring the Wild Swan down
For me, thy cruel master: ay, and stop

The screaming Vulture in the middle air,

And mar his scarlet plumage-all for me,

Who killed thee, murdered thee, poor bird; for thou
Wast worthy of humanity; and I

Feel, with these shaking hands, as I had done
A crime against my race.

THE SPARROW-HAWK (Accipiter, or Falco nisus).-The Gaelic name of this bird is Speirsheog; it bears a general resemblance to the Goshawk, but is of a much more slender form, and is smaller in size, seldom measuring more than thirteen inches in the male. The general colour of the plumage in the upper parts of the body is slate-blue, with greyish-white, and brown bands and markings; the breast and under parts are reddish-white, running off into yellowish-red; there are white spots on the back of the head; the tarsi and toes are yellow, and the claws, like the bill, bluish-black. This is the best known and most widely

QUICKNESS OF PERCEPTION.

63

distributed of all our diurnal native plunderers; it is elegantly formed, wonderfully agile, and in spirit, dexterity, and daring, has no superior. It never soars in lazy gyrations like the Eagles and Buzzards, nor does it follow a circling course while looking for food. Its range of distinct vision,' says Macgillivray, 'cannot be very great, nor does it appear to observe birds in a hedge or field at the distance of some hundred yards, and its low flight, at the height of only eight or ten feet, indicates a correspondingly short extent of sight. But then the quickness of its perception is astonish

ing; for when sweeping along nearly at full speed it will readily discover any object favourably situated for being seized. In the field it preys on leverets, young rabbits, field-mice, partridges, larks, pipets, and wagtails; by the hedges, and in woods, on blackbirds, thrushes, sparrows, chaffinches, and buntings. Although it very frequently visits gardens, stack yards, and the vicinity of houses, its chief object seems to be to obtain small birds, and not to look after the poultry, yet it has been known to seize on pigeons, and more frequently on chickens, and, according to Montagu, has carried away half a brood of the latter

64

BEWARE OF THE ENEMY.

before being discovered. It flies low, skims over the poultry yard, snatches up a chick, and is out of sight in an instant. This Hawk does not appear to prey more particularly on sparrows, as its name would indicate, than on other of the smaller feathered tribes, and the melodious strains of many a sweet woodland songster are cut short by this enemy alike to the gamekeeper, the song-bird lover, and the thrifty housewife. The Sparrow-hawk has but few friends; it is the roving Arab of the air, with its beak against every one, and every one's hand against it; and its numbers certainly diminish year by year, although not so rapidly as is the case with some others of the feathered plunderers, owing perhaps to its extreme agility, and its wariness rendering it a difficult bird either to shoot or trap. Few small birds will venture to resist the attack of this Hawk, even in defence of their young: a pair of Missel Thrushes will sometimes do so, and one of them generally falls a victim. And yet it has been observed that Sparrows, and other birds which gather into flocks, will follow their greatest enemy in considerable numbers, uttering clamorous cries, and threatening, as it seems, to inflict summary chastisement on the destroyer of their peace; but this is generally when the Hawk's talons are laden with prey, and even then, if it do but turn upon its pursuers, they will fly off, and scatter in all directions like frightened sheep.

'Ware hawk!' is an expression often used to indicate the approach of danger, and some such warning cry it would almost appear that the birds in the hedges and fields utter when this fierce and audacious plunderer makes its appearance; the effect is much the same as though a thundercloud darkened the sky; the Skylark descends rapidly from its aërial position, and its joyous carol is hushed; the melody of the woodland grove is suddenly still, and the Sparrows and other birds which are out in the open grounds foraging, give utterance to pcculiar notes of warning, and

THE NOTE OF ALARM.

65

skurry away to cover, where they lie quiet and trembling, or else assemble in noisy conclave, as though holding a council of war.

Steep is the acclivity which now my foot,
Ambitious of its task, aspires to scale;

A Hawk flies round it, and the wood grows mute,
Conscious that evil pinions load the gale,

says Wiffen, describing Apsley Wood; and we have ourselves witnessed the effect produced upon the feathered denizens of a locality by the dreaded apparition of a Sparrow-hawk, hovering, as it sometimes does, in the blue void, like the Kestrel, or gliding slowly over the fields with its keen glance turned earthward in search of a dainty morsel. If it comes near the farm-yard, the ducks leave the pond, waddle off beneath the stack or granary; the pigeons fly into the barn or the cot, and the clucking hens gather their chickens under their wings; while the pea-fowls scream, and the cocks give defiant crows, although evidently ill at ease; and, warned by these sounds, the farmer takes up his gun and aims at the intruder, who, however, is too wary to keep long enough within shooting distance.

Not only during the day, but sometimes at night, is this marauder seen hovering about its favourite hunting-grounds, on the look out for some bird that has incautiously roosted within reach of its formidable talons. For many years,' says Mr. Hepburn, 'an individual of this species has almost daily visited my stack-yard during the winter season, generally betwixt noon and three o'clock. As he glides in lowly flight over the fields to his larder, as the stack-yard may be termed, his detested presence is first announced by the 'twink' of some chaffinch perched on a tall tree. Its companions repeat the alarm-cry, and, in company with buntings and linnets, fly up to the trees, a few perching on the bushes. The sparrows feeding near the barn door seek the middle of the neighbouring hedge, or betake themselves

E

66

PLAYING AT BO-PEEP.

in a confused flock to the shelter of the evergreens in the garden, where they remain perfectly quiet till the danger is past. Not so the other birds, which, from their commanding position, emit cries expressive of their fears. The clear notes of the chaffinch are distinguished above the rest. The Hawk now perches for a minute or so on the hedge, and as the stacks screen him from view, the fears of the poor birds subside for a little; but there he comes; swift as the arrow from the bow he rushes from between the stacks, gains the plantation, dashes fearlessly among the bushes after the fugitives, clutches his quarry, and is off as swiftly as he came. Sometimes, when he has stealthily approached the garden without being observed, perhaps the noise of a party of sparrows squabbling among themselves attracts his attention, swift as thought he glides along the walk; if the bushes are too thick for a dash he flies rapidly round them, when woe to the wretched bird that first meets the glance of his keen eye. At another time he has found a flock of sparrows in the close-pruned hedge that surrounds the stack-yard. He first beats one side, then the other, the birds always betaking themselves to the opposite side; and thus he persecutes them till one in his fright exposes himself. A shriek follows, and all is over. I once observed this Hawk rush from a great height in the air upon a flock thus circumstanced. Its usual manner of approaching its prey is by gliding close over the ground.'

6

The same close observer tells us that this bird follows an ingenious method of procuring a choice supply of food from August to November, when the leaves are on the trees that surround our dwelling. Not far from the garden hedge is a row of tall willows. Within the garden, and not fourteen yards from them, stands a beautiful white birch, which shoots up to the height of about twenty-four feet. Its stem is entwined with an aged honeysuckle, in which, for the last three years, ten pairs of sparrows have built their nests,