FALCO VELOX. 



SHARP-SHINNED HAWK. 



[Plate XLV. Fig. 1, Female.] 



This is a bold and daring species, hitherto unknown to naturalists. 

 The only Hawk we have which approaches near it in color is the Pigeon 

 Hawk, figured in Plate XV. But there are such striking differences 

 in the present, not only in color, but in other respects, as to point out 

 decisively its claims to rank as a distinct species. Its long and slender 

 legs and toes ; its red fiery eye, feathered to the eyelids ; its triangular 

 grooved nostril, and length of tail, are all different from the Pigeon 

 Hawk, whose legs are short, its eyes dark hazel, surrounded with a 

 broad bare yellow skin, and its nostrils small and circular, centred with 

 a slender point, that rises in it like the pistil of a flower. There is no 

 Hawk mentioned by Pennant, either as inhabiting Europe or America, 

 agreeing with this. I may therefore, with confidence, pronounce it a 

 nondescript ; and have chosen a very singular peculiarity which it pos- 

 sesses, for its specific appellation. 



This Hawk was shot on the banks of the Schuylkill, near Mr'. Bar- 

 tram's. Its singularity of flight surprised me long before I succeeded in 

 procuring it. It seemed to throw itself from one quarter of the heavens 

 to the other, with prodigious velocity, inclining to the earth ; swept 

 suddenly down into a thicket, and instantly re-appeared with a small 

 bird in its talons. This feat I saw it twice perform, so that it was not 

 merely an accidental manoeuvre. The rapidity and seeming violence 

 of these zig-zag excursions were really remarkable, and appeared to me 

 to be for the purpose of seizing his prey by sudden surprise, and main 

 force of flight. I kept this Hawk alive for several days, and was hopeful 

 I might be able to cure him ; but he died of his wound. 



On the 15th of September, two young men whom I had despatched 

 on a shooting expedition, met with this species on one of the ranges "of 

 the Alleghany. It was driving around in the same furious headlong man- 

 ner, and had made a sweep at a red squirrel, which eluded its grasp, and 

 itself became the victim. These are the only individuals of this bird I 

 have been able to procure, and fortunately they were male and female. 



The female of this species (represented in the plate) is thirteen inches 

 long, and twenty-five inches in extent ; the bill is black towards the 

 point on both mandibles, but light blue at its base ; cere a fine pea 

 green ; sides of the mouth the same ; lores pale whitish blue, beset with 



(64) 



