. The British bird book . ee it skimming along by the side of a hedge,darting through a gate-way, and then dashing across anopen field, at only a few feet from the ground. Itdoes not disdain an occasional rat or mouse, when othervictims are scarce, and in this way, to some smallextent, it it beneficial. But birds form by far theB 5 greater proportion of its diet, and as chickens,partridges, and young pheasants are destroyed by it in con-siderablenumbers,both thefarmer andthe game-keeper haveample justi-fication forthe warfarewhich theywage againstit. The color-ation of the Sparrow Hawk is so t
. The British bird book . ee it skimming along by the side of a hedge,darting through a gate-way, and then dashing across anopen field, at only a few feet from the ground. Itdoes not disdain an occasional rat or mouse, when othervictims are scarce, and in this way, to some smallextent, it it beneficial. But birds form by far theB 5 greater proportion of its diet, and as chickens,partridges, and young pheasants are destroyed by it in con-siderablenumbers,both thefarmer andthe game-keeper haveample justi-fication forthe warfarewhich theywage againstit. The color-ation of the Sparrow Hawk is so totally different from that of thekestrel, that only by a very ignorant observer can the onebird be mistaken for the other. There is a certain similarityin appearance, however, between the cuckoo and theSparrow Hawk, and small birds frequently mistake the onefor the other, mobbing a cuckoo as if it were a birdof prey. Here, probably, we have the explanation of the early cuckoos which are sometimes recorded as having been 6.
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1921
