FALCONID^3 DIUKNAL RAPTORES. 458 



back and fights furiously. In the winter its notes while on the 

 wing are sharp, and are said to resemble the syllable pee-pee-pee. 



"Mr. Audubon has found this Hawk nesting not only in low lands 

 near the sea shore, but also in the barrens of Kentucky and on the 

 table lands of the Alleghanies, and once in the high covered pine- 

 barrens of Florida. 



"After having paired, the Marsh Hawks invariably keep together, 

 and labor conjointly in the construction of the nest, in sitting upon 

 the eggs, and in feeding the young. Their nests are variously con- 

 structed as to materials, usually chiefly of hay somewhat clumsily 

 wrought together into the form of a nest, but never very nicely 

 interwoven ; occasionally, in more northern localities, they are lined 

 with feathers, in some cases with pine-needles and small twigs." 

 (BREWER.) 



GENUS ACCIPITER, BRISSON. 



GEN. CHAR. Four to five outer primaries with inner webs emarginated; third to 

 fifth quills longest; inner toe reaching scarcely beyond the first joint of the middle toa 

 or falling short of it. 



Form slender, the tail long, the wing short and rounded, the feet slender, claws very 

 acute. Head comparatively small; the bill rather weak. Bill nearly as deep through the 

 base as the length of the culmen (chord), its upper outline decidedly ascending basally; 

 maxillary tomium with a prominent '"festoon." Nostril broadly ovate, obliquely hori- 

 zontal. Superciliary shield very prominent. Tarsus longer than the much lengthened 

 middle toe, the frontal and posterior series of transverse scutellae very distinct and con- 

 tinuous (except in males of some of the smaller species, in which tliese scales are 

 "fused" into a continuous plate). Outer toe longer than the inner. Wing comparatively 

 short, much rounded, and very concave beneath; third to fifth quills longest, the first 

 usually shortest, and never longer than the sixth; outer three to five with inner webs 

 sinuated. Tail long (nearly equal to the wing), usually rounded, occasionally even, and 

 rarely slightly emarginated. 



The above diagnosis is intended to cover the characters of this 

 genus in its most comprehensive sense. In North America there 

 are two strongly marked subgenera, which may be characterized as 

 follows : 



Accipiter. Less than one third of the tarsus feathered in front, the feathering widely 

 separated behind; frontal scutellifi uninterrupted at the digito-tarsal joint. (Tarsal 

 scutellae fused into a continuous plate in adult males of the smaller species.) 



Astur. More than one tnird (nearly one half) of the upper part of the tarsus feathered 

 in front, the feathering scarcely separated behind; frontal scutellffl interrupted at the 

 digito-tarsal joint, where replaced by small scales. (Tarsal scutellis never fused.) 

 Size larger than typical Accipiter. 



