134
THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
it is recorded that castings contained the beak and bones of
grouse, bones and fur of hare (also probably of rabbit), and
traces of sheep's wool, most likely from carrion).65
Sparrow Hawk.
Our member, Mr. J. H. Owen, than whom nobody has more
closely watched the habits of this bird, has often seen pellets
lying in and about the nest: he has noticed that the hen-parent
clears these out of the nest when thrown up by the nestlings,
sometimes herself swallowing them, sometimes removing them
to a greater or lesser distance.66 Mr. Selous has more than
once actually witnessed the regurgitation of a pellet.67
The castings include remains of young birds (including young
pheasants).68
In a recent article on the "Menu of the Sparrow-hawk"69
Mr. Owen writes: "I have seen their pellets containing the
remains of beetles. Another time I found pellets containing the
shell of a greenfinch's egg. The hawk had caught the greenfinch
when the egg was ready for extrusion, and had, I suppose,
swallowed the egg just as if it had been the wretched bird's
gizzard."
Mr. Owen describes the Sparrow-hawk's pellets, which he
found at a favourite perching place, as being "quite small and
cylindrical, and composed of bone and feathers, not so compact
as those of the owls or even the kestrel, very dark in colour, but
not black. The nest . . . was not more than 50 yards
away."
Kite.
Mr. T. E. Gunn examined the stomach-contents of a specimen
of this bird, which comprised a mass of dried grass and two
yellow berries; this, he considered, had been swallowed with
its more usual food, "and was in process of being formed into a
ball or pellet for the purpose of being ejected."70
An observer who visited a nest of the Kite saw no pellets
at the foot of the nesting-tree, but was informed that in previous
years a quantity of castings with feathers and fur had been seen.71
65 British Birds, xiv., p. 259.
66 British Birds, 1916-17, pp. 30, 54, 77.
67 Zoologist, 1911, pp. 48, 181.
68 Zoologist, 1885, p. 51.
69 Nineteenth Century and After, Nov. 1922.
70 Zoologist, 1884, p. 2.
71 Zoologist, 1881, p. 405.