THE AMERICAN SPARROW HAWK. 
391 
usually satisfies the resident Falcon, the little winged terror makes havoc 
among the Blackbirds and smaller songsters. Himself not larger that a full- 
sized Pigeon, the Hawk sometimes pursues a Mourning Dove with relentless 
fury, and easily overtakes this fleet bird, unless it seeks cover or the protection 
of man. 
Now and then also one finds the Pigeon Hawk seated, for it is less 
suspicious than most, and it hails from northern wilds which do not know 
-the fear of man. At such times one is struck by the quaint, almost unique 
appearance of the tawny breast with its heavy umber streaks; and the glaucous 
bloom of the upper parts might have come from my lady’s cheek, when she 
went hawking centuries ago. In the hand the round white spots which 
sprinkle the tawny feathers lining the wings make them seem still more like 
objects of curious medizeval art. 
No. 174. 
AMERICAN SPARROW HAWK. 
A. O.-U. No. 360. Falco sparverius Linn. 
Synonym.—Rusty-ckROWNED FALCON. 
Description.—ddult male: Top of head slaty blue, with a rufous crown- 
patch; sides of head and throat white, a black stripe from the lower eye-lid an- 
teriorly, proceeding obliquely downward; a similar transverse bar on the side of 
the neck, and a dab on either side and sometimes in the middle of the cervix; 
back, scapulars, and tail rich rusty red; strong black bars in variable quantity 
across the middle of the back and lower scapulars, or rarely reaching cervix; a 
heavy subterminal black band on tail, the central feathers tipped with rufous 
and the others with white; the wing-coverts and inner quills (including second- 
aries) slaty blue, the former black-spotted and the latter crossed by a heavy black 
bar ; primaries blackish, the point of wing formed by the second; the first sharply 
emarginate on the inner web, the second slightly so; all the wing-quills heavily 
spotted with white on the inner webs, these spots confluent in bars on the under 
surface; below whitish or slightly tinged, immaculate on lower belly, flanks, and 
crissum; elsewhere (save on throat, as noted above) lightly tinged or heavily 
shaded with rufous,—the fore breast usually but not always unmarked, the sides 
and middle belly very lightly or quite heavily spotted with black. Bill bluish black ; 
cere and feet yellow. Young male: Similar to adult, but lower scapulars and 
wing-quills lightly tipped with white; not so heavily shaded with rufous below. 
Adult femate: Subsimilar, but wings like the back; the black barring regular and 
continuous over entire back, wings (except quills), and tail,—the tail having ten 
to twelve bars, but the subterminal bar often larger; barring indicated narrowly 
across upper tail-coverts ; below not-tinged with rufous, but streaked instead with 
rusty brown; the sides sometimes barred with blackish. Young female: “Similar 
to adult, but colors softer, deeper, and more blended” (Ridgway). Adult male 
