PIGEON HAAVK 237 



ship the male performs evolutions in the air, dropping rap- 

 idly from a height, uttering a note like the syllables hilly, 

 hilly. 



The small size of this hawk will distinguish it from all 

 other hawks except the Sliarp-shinned and the rather rare 

 Pigeon Ha\vk, and from each of these the reddish-brown 

 of the hack and tail at once distinguishes it. In flying, the 

 Sparrow Hawk takes rapid strokes, and does not alternate 

 these regularly with intervals of gliding, as the Sharp- 

 shinned Hawk does. The tail of the latter extends far out 

 behind him as he circles high in the air ; the former's 

 wings reach well toward the tip of the tail, so that its tail 

 does not show as conspicuously. The Sparrow Hawk's 

 wings are long and narrow ; the Sharp-shinned Hawk's are 

 short and broad. (See Frontispiece.) 



Pigeon Hawk. Falco columharius 



Z 10.00. 9 13.00 



Ad. $ . — Upper Y>'^vt^hluish-gray ; under parts white, streaked 

 with black, the throat lightly, the rest heavily. Ad. ^ and Im. — 

 Upper parts brownish; under parts as in male. 



The Pigeon Hawk is a somewhat rare migrant in New 

 York and New England in April, September, and October, 

 more common along the coast ; it is an occasional winter 

 visitant. When a student has thoroughly learned the differ- 

 ence in appearance and flight between the Sparrow Hawk 

 and the Sharp-shinned Hawk, between a Falcon with long, 

 narrow wings, and an Accipiter with short, rounded wings, 

 he will be able, if a good opportunity offers, to identify a 

 Pigeon Hawk. If a small hawk has a powerful head and 

 shoulders, long narrow wings reaching well toward the tip 

 of the tail, and the rapid flight of a falcon, and yet has a 

 brownish (not reddish-brown) or a slaty-blue back, it can 

 be no other than the Pigeon Hawk. 



