230 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



1st of May. Their nests are made entirely of sticks, larger on the outside, 

 and smaller within. They nsually build in a hemlock-tree, selecting a thick 

 clump. They are very noisy when they are at work building their nest, and 

 often betray their presence by their cries. The younger the pair the more 

 noisy they are. This Hawk appears to live nearly altogether on small birds. 

 Mr. Street mentions having found ten or twelve skeletons in a single nest of 

 til is species. 



Nisus cooperi (Bonap.). 



Var. cooperi, Bonap. 



COOPER'S HAWK 



Falco cooperi, Bonap. Am. Orn. pi. x, fig. 1, 1825 ; Ann. Lye. N. Y. 11, 433 ; Isis, 1832, 

 1137. —James. (Wils.) Am. Orn. IV, 1831, 3. — Peab. B. Mass. Ill, 78. Accipitcr 

 cooperi, Gray, List B. Brit. Mus. 38, 1844 ; Gen. B. foL sp. 6. — Cass. Birds CaL & 

 Tex. p. 96, 1854 ; Birds N. Am. 1858, 16. — Sclat. Pr. Z. S. 1859, 389 (difference from 

 A. piUatus, Max.). — Heerm. P. R. R. Rep't, VII, 31, 1857. — Coop. & Suckl. P. R. R. 

 Rep't, XII, ii, 145, 1860. — CouEs, Prod. Orn. Ariz. p. 7, 1866. —Dresser, Ibis, 1865, 

 323 (Texas). — Blaki.st. Ibis, III, 1861, 317. — ScL. & Salv. Ex. Orn. I,"l869, 170. 

 — Gray, Hand List, I, 32, 1869. Astur cooperi, Jard. (Wils.) Am. Orn. Ill, 363, 

 1832. — Bonap. List, p. 5 ; Rev. Zool. 1850, 489 ; Consp. Av. 31. — De Kay, Zobl. 

 N. Y. II, 18, pi. iv, p. 5. — Newb. P. R. R. Rep't, VI, iv, 74, 1857. —Max. Cab. 

 Journ. VI, 1858, 13. Falco stanlcyi, Aitd. B. Am. pis. xxxvi, cxli ; Orn. Biog. I, 186. 

 Accipiter pilcatus (not of Max. !), Strickl. Orn. Syn. I, 109, 1855. Accipiter cooperi. 

 Brewer, Oology, 1857, 20, pi. v, f. 55. * 



Sp. Char. Adult male (No. 10,086). Forehead, crown, and occiput blackish-plum- 

 beous ; the latter snowy-white beneath the surface ; rest of upper parts slaty-plumbeous, 

 the nape abruptly lighter than the occiput; feathers of the nape, back, scapulars, and 

 rump with darker shaft-lines ; scapulars with concealed cordate and circular spots of 

 white ; upper tail-coverts sharply tipped with Avhite. Tail more brownish than the 

 rump, sharply tipped with pure white, and crossed with three broad, sharply defined 

 bands of black, the first of which is concealed, the last much broadest; that portion of 

 the shaft between the two exposed black bands white. Lores grayish; cheeks and 

 throat Avhite, with fine, hair-like shaft-streaks of blackish ; ear-coverts and sides of neck 

 more ashy, and more faintly streaked. Ground-color beneath pure white; but with 

 detached transverse bars of rich vinaceous-rufous, crossing the jugulum, breast, sides, 

 flanks, abdomen, and tibiae ; the white bars everywhere (except on sides of the breast) 

 rather exceeding the rufous in width ; all the feathers (except tibial plumes) with distinct 

 black shaft-lines ; lower tail-coverts immaculate, pure white. Lining of the wing white, 

 with numerous cordate spots of rufous ; coverts with transverse blackish bars; under 

 side of primaries silvery-white, purest basally (tips dusky), crossed with quadrate bars 

 of dusky, of which there are six (the first only indicated) upon the longest quill (fourth). 

 Wing, 9.20 ; tail, 7.80; tarsus, 2.35 ; middle toe, 1.60. Fourth quill longest ; third shorter 

 than fifth; second intermediate between sixth and seventh; first, 2.80 shorter than 

 longest; graduation of tail, 1.00. 



Adult female (26,588, Washington, D. C. ; Elliott Coues). Similar to the male. Fore- 

 head tinged with brownish ; upper plumage much less bluish. Neck and ear-coverts 

 uniformly rufous, with black shaft-streaks, there being no ashy wash as in the male. 

 Tail decidedly less bluish than in the male, crossed with four bands, three of which are 

 exposed. The rufous bars beneath less vinaceous than in the male, but of about the 



