18 NOKTH AMERICAN OOLOGY. PART I. 



vania. Our only knowledge of its nest is derived from Mr. Audubon, who observed 

 these Hawks in the Great Pine Forest of Pennsylvania, and 011 the banks of the 

 Niagara River, near the Falls. 1 He describes it as placed on the branches of a tree, 

 and near the trunk. This nest was one of great size, and resembled that of a Crow 

 in the manner of its construction, but was much flatter. It was made of withered 

 twigs and coarse grass, with a lining of fibrous strips of plants resembling hemp. 

 Another, found by Mr. Audubon, in the month of April, contained three eggs ready 

 to be hatched. In another, the number was four. The only specimen of this egg 

 that I have ever seen was one from Northern Ohio, near Cleveland. Its measure- 

 ments are 2iV by lyf inches. In its shape, it is nearly spherical ; its surface is 

 rough and granulated; its ground color is a soiled white with a hardly perceptible 

 shade of bluish. It is marked irregularly with large but quite faint blotches of drab 

 and yellowish-brown. 



ACCIPITER FUSCUS. 



Falco fuscus, GMELIN, Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 280. 

 " BONAP. Syn. App. 1828, p. 433. 



" " AUD. Orn. Biog. IV, 1838, 522, pi. ccclxxiv. 

 Falco dullus, GMELIN, Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 281. 

 Accipiter strialus, VIEILL. Ois. Am. Sept. I, 1807, 42. 

 Falco velox, WILS. Am. Orn. V, 1812, 116. 



" " NTJTTALL, Manual, I, 1832, 87. 



" BONAP. Syn. 1838, p. 29. 



Falco pennsylvanicus, WILS. Am. Orn. VI, 1812, 13. 

 Sparvius lineatus, VIEILL. Encyc. Meth. Ill, 1823, 1266. 

 Accipiter fringilloides, VIG. Zool. Jour. Ill, 1827, 434. 

 Accipiter pennsylvanicus, EICH. & SWAIN. F. B. A. II, 1831, 74. 

 Nisus malfini, LESS. Traite, I, 1831, 58. 

 Accipiter fuscus, BONAP. Geog. and Comp. List, 1838, p. 5. 



" CASSIN, Syn. N. A. Birds (Illust. Birds of Cal.), 1854, p. 95. 

 Astur fuscus, Aro. Syn. 1839, p. 18. 



" " " Birds of Am. I, 1840, 100, pi. xxv. 



" " LEMBEYE, Av. de la Isla de Cuba, 1850, p". 16. 



VULG. Sliarp-shinned Hawk. Slate-colored Hawk. American Brown Hawk. Chicken 

 Hawk. Autour d Bee Sineuse. Cernicalo Morado (Cuba). 



THIS species is one of the most common Hawks of North America, and its geo- 

 graphical range covers the entire continent, from Hudson's Bay to Mexico. Sir John 

 Richardson mentions its having been met with as far to the north as latitude 51. 



birds of Nova Scotia, prepared by Lieutenant Bland of the Royal Engineers and Mr. John R. Willis of 

 Halifax. In this catalogue, the Astur atricapillus is given as a bird of that Province, migratory and 

 tolerably common. 



1 Birds of America, (8vo,) I, 97. 



