496 THE SHARP-SHINNED HAWK. 



Jiuul>ali(>n is acciniiplislud in almut \h\w weeks, or if it lias conmiencctl 

 with the hiving of tlie first egg, as is often the case, then the last egg may not 

 hatch for a week longer. \\'hile the female is brooding the young, she is 

 frequently fed by the male fn>ni a considerable height. Dr. Lynds Jones 

 relates one such instance in which an element of sportiveness appeared to enter 

 in : "Once during the breeding season I saw a male catch a large garter snake 

 anil tlv uj) with it several hundred feet, tlieii drop it to the female who just 

 then came flving along near the ground. She canglu it and carried it to the 

 nest followed by the male." 



The voung, after lea\ing the nest, hunt for se\'eral months with theii 

 parents, and the last and costliest lesson which they learn is fear of m;ui. If 

 these most excellent mousers had half the gratitude shown to them which we 

 manifest toward cats, they might he abundant where they are imw rare. 

 ^^■ithout (|uestion the past twenty years has shown a marked decrease in ihe 

 abundance of this species in Washington. The Marsh Hawk is partially and 

 ■ irreeularlv misratorv, luit it is now seldom seen hereabouts in winter, whereas 

 Cooper described it as "alnind.-mt thrnoul the o])en districts ot the Territory 

 csf^rcidlly in Tiv'/z/rr." 



No. 20I. 



SHARP-SHINNED HAWK. 



A. O. U. No. 332. Accipiter velox ( Wils.). 



Synonyms. — "Sp.akrow" H.awk. I5iri) M.vwk. 



Description. — Adult: Above slaty gray, ilark plumbeous, or chocolate- 

 brown, with a glaucous cast, darker but not black on head; occipital feathers, 

 scapulars, and inner quills with concealed white at base: primaries banded with 

 two shades of fuscous above, contrasting dusky and whitish below ; tail, nearly 

 square, sligbth- emarginate, crossed by live dusky bands, and narrowly whitish at 

 tip, the basal band concealed and nearly obsolete; auriculars rusty, with black 

 .shaft-lines; throat whitish or pale butfy with blackish shafts; remaining uiidcr- 

 parts wliite, heavily barred on breast, belly, sides, ;ixillaries, and shanks with 

 l)ale cinnamon-rufous, — feathers of breast with blackish shaft-lines; lining of 

 wings rusty-tinged, finely and irregularly barred with dusky; crissnm unmarked, 

 or merely touched with rufous ; iris, cere, and feet yellow ; bill and claws black- 

 ish. Females are perhaps less blue above, and duller or paler below, liiiiiiaturc: 

 Above dusky brown margined with rufous, concealed white crojjping out in 

 streaks on forehead and hind-neck, and in spots on scapulars, etc. ; below streaked 

 and spotted instead of barred, with pale browns (Vandyke brown, Front's brown, 

 etc) and dusky, narrowly on cheeks and throat, luore broadly on breast and 

 sides, — markings pandurate on sides of breast, cordate, tear-shaped, or various 

 below, sometimes transverse on flanks and shanks. Between this and the typical 

 adult plumage everv gradation exists. Rather variable in size, — adult male. 



