FALCONS, HAWKS, EAGLES, ETC. 



151 



GENUS ACCIPITER. 



General Characters. — Head small, wings short, tail and legs long ; three 

 to five outer primaries cut out on inner webs ; tail square or rounded, 

 about equal to length of wing. 



KEY TO ADULT MALES. 



1. Under parts gray, finely barred with zigzag lines. 



2. Upper parts clear bluish gray atricapillus, p. 152. 



2'. Upper parts slaty blue inclining to sooty . . striatulus, p. 153. 



1. Under parts white, coarsely barred with reddish brown. 



2. Tail rounded COOperii, p. 152. 



2'. Tail even or enaarginate velox, p. 151. 



Subgenus Accipiter. 

 Length 20 or less ; tarsus feathered for one third or less of its length. 



332. Accipiter velox ( Wils.). Sharp-shinned Hawk. 



Adult male. — Under parts white, heavily barred and spotted with reddish' 

 brown ; upper parts nearly uniform bluish gray ; tail even or slightli/ notched. 

 with three or four narrow blackish bands, 

 and narrow white tip. Adult female : similar, 

 but duller, less blue above, less reddish below. 

 Young : upper parts dark brown, edged with 

 rusty and with hints of white spotting ; under 

 parts white, often tinged with buffy, streaked 

 vertically with brown ; sides and flanks barred 

 with reddish brown. Male: length 10.00-11. 50. 

 wing 6.10-7.10, tail 5.80-0.10. Female: lengtli 

 12.50-14.00, wing 7.80-8.80, tail 6.60-8.20. 



Remarks. — The young are decidedly larger 

 than the adults, and the breast markings are 

 vertical instead of horizontal. 



Distribution. — Breeds throughout the United 

 States, and in the British provinces as far north 

 as the Arctic circle ; winters from 40^ north : 

 southward to Guatemala. 



Nest. — A remodeled one of crow, magpie, 

 or squirrel, or if new, made of dry sticks sparsely 

 lined with inner bark or green leaves ; placed 

 usually in a dense conifer, about twenty feet 

 from the ground. Eggs : 4 or .">, pale bluish or greenisli white, fading to 

 dull grayish white, most irregularly and heavily blotched, spotted, and 

 marbled with brown : in some specimens ground color almost hidden by 

 confluent brown markings. 



Food. — Chiefly birds and young poultry, with a few mice, reptiles, 

 batrachians, and insects. 



Among tlie hawks tlie sharp shinned is a veritable bushwhacker. 

 His light body, short wings, and long tail enable him to double and 

 turn among the brush and branches, and in a noiseless, fo.x-like way 

 pounce over a hedgerow or brush heap into the midst of a Hock of 

 sparrows, swoop under the low branches and pick his bird from the 

 ground, or dart through the trcetops and snatch one in mid air from 

 the midst of a startled tluck. 



Kroin Biological Survey, U. 

 Dept. of Agriculture. 

 Fig. 222. 



