418 



ZOOLOGY BIRDS. 



little falcon is found in their midst, and selecting his victims as whim or 

 appetite urges. They often choose the Turtle Doves, and, swooping down 

 in the midst of a flock gathered about a pool of water, almost invariably con- 

 trive to seize one of the bewildered birds ere the surprise caused by the sud- 

 denness of the attack is over. Occasionally, however, the first swoop is 

 unsuccessful, and then they usually return to some perch near by to await 

 another opportunity ; but, when urged by hunger, I have seen a hawk, having 

 failed in his swoop, turn, with the quickness of thought, and pursue one of 

 the flying birds ; unless there should chance to be some thick covert hard 

 by into which the timid quarry darts and conceals itself, the race is usually 

 a short one, and terminates by the hawk bearing away his struggling victim 

 to some perch where at leisure he picks and devours his prize. 



NISUS COOPEKI (Bon.). 

 Cooper's Hawk. 



Falco cooperi, BON., Am. Orn., pi. x, f. 1, 1825. 



Antur cooperi, NEWB., P. R. R. Rep., vi, 1857, 74. 



Accipiter cooperi, BD., Birds N. A., 1858, 1C. Id., IT. S. & Mex. Bound. Surv., ii, pt. 

 ii, 1859, Birds, 3. HEERM., P. E. II. Rep., x, pt. iv, 1859, 33. HENRY, 

 Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila,, 1859, 104 (New Mexico). COOP. & SUCKL., 

 P. R. R. Rep., xii, pt. ii, 1860, 145. COUES, Proc. Acad. Nat, Sci. Pliila., 

 1806, 43. Id, ib., 1868, 82. COOPER, Birds Cal., i, 1870, 464. SNOW, 

 Birds Kan., 1872, 3. COUES, Key N. A. Birds, 1872, 212, f. 140. ALLEN, 

 Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., June, 1874, 34. COUES, Birds Northwest, 1874, 

 334. 



Accipiter mexicanus, HENRY, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1854, 104 (New Mexico). 

 BD., Birds N. A., 1858, 17. XANTUS, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1859, 190 

 (Fort Tejon, Cal.). HAYD., Trans/Am. Phil. Soc., xii, 1862, 152. Coop. 

 & SUCKL., P. R. R. Rep., xii, pt. ii, 1860, 146. COOPER, Birds Cal., i, 1870, 

 465. STEV., U. S. Geol. Surv. Terr., 1870, 462. 



