42 SHARP-SHINNED HAWK— PIGEON HAWK. 



several journeys." One specimen, however, was shot at Moose 

 F"actory in latitude 51", and deposited by the Hudson's Bay Com- 

 pany in the Zoological Museum. Canadian specimens of this 

 Hawk often differ considerably in size and color from New England 

 examples, and these again from south-western and western ones ; 

 the difference, however, is chiefly one of tint of coloring. There 

 appears to be a rufous western race, as Allen observes, " corres- 

 ponding with the Accipiter Mexicanus form of the A. Cooperi ; the 

 Falco nigriccps form of the F. peregrijius (Duck Hawk) ; the 

 ArcliibtUco fcmtginciis form of the A. lagoptis (Rough-legged 

 Hawk) ; and the western rufous forms of Butco borealis (Red-tail 

 Hawk) ; and Circits hudsoiiins (Marsh Hawk)". 



The Sharp-shinned Hawk is very closely related to A. nistis 

 or Sparrow Hawk of Britain and Europe, but I believe is by the 

 majority of our ornithologists still considered as specifically 

 distinct. The distinctive difference, however, is again merely one 

 ol tint of coloring, the general plan of the markings being the 

 same in both birds. Cassin remarks concerning the Sharp-shinned 

 Hawk that when in adult plumage it much resembles the A. iiisus 

 of Europe ; " but the young are quite different, as is the case with 

 nearly all the species of this family inhabiting North America, 

 which resemble species of the Old World." Henry Reeks, a British 

 ornithologist, when alluding to specimens of the Sharp-shinned 

 Hawk taken in Newfoundland states that the adult birds of this 

 species were not distinguishable from adult specimens of A. nistis, 

 but that he had not had an opportunity of comparing the young 

 birds. The Sharp-shinned Hawk is abundant throughout Canada, 

 and numbers of specimens were obtained on each of our expe- 

 ditions. These, however, in the majority of instances, were 

 females and young birds, and very few good adult males were 

 procured. A favorite resort of this species is the skirts of 

 forests bordering upon our small interior lakes, or the edges of 

 clearings. In the lumber regions, or the great tracts of pine- 

 timbered lands between the St. Lawrence and Ottawa rivers, and 

 westward of the Great Lakes, this Hawk is but sparingly repre- 

 sented ; but in the hard-wood lands on the course of the Mada- 



