Sparrow Hawk
in ornithology, the Accipiter nisus, extending across Europe, through Asia to Japan. The adult male is about 12 inches long, dark-brown on the upper surface, softening into gray as the bird grows old; the entire under surface is rusty-brown, with bands of a darker shade. The female is about 15 inches long, the upper surface nearly re sembling that of the male bird in ground-color, but having many of the feathers white at the base; under surface grayish-white, with dark transverse bars. The sparrow hawk is very destructive to small quadrupeds and young birds. The hen lays four or five eggs irregularly blotched with brownish-crimson on a bluish-white ground. The name is also applied to the American falcon, the Australian collared sparrow hawk, the European kestrel, and the New Zealand quail hawk.