THE PIGEON HAWK. 17 



reddish white; every feather with a longitudinal line of brownish -black; tibife light 

 ferruginous, with lines of black; quills black, tipped with ashy white; tail light-bluish 

 ashy, tipped with white and with a wide subterminal band of black, and with 

 several other transverse narrower bands of black ; inner webs nearly white ; cere 

 and legs yellow; bill blue. 



Younger. Entire upper plumage dusky-brown, quite light in some specimens, 

 and with a tinge of ashy ; head above, with narrow stripes of dark brown and ferru- 

 ginous, and in some specimens many irregular spots and edgings of the latter color 

 on the other upper parts; forehead and entire under parts dull-white, the latter 

 with longitudinal stripes of light-brown ; sides and flanks light-brown, with pairs of 

 circular spots of white; tibiae dull white, with dashes of brown; tail pale-brown, 

 with about six transverse bands of white; cere and legs greenish-yellow. 



1 yung. Upper plumage brownish-black, white of the forehead and under parts 

 more deeply tinged with reddish-yellow; dark stripes wider than the preceding; 

 sides and flanks with wide transverse bands of brownish-black, and with circular 

 spots of yellowish-white ; quills black ; tail brownish-black, tipped with white, and 

 with about four bands of white; cere and feet greenish-yellow; iris dark-hazel. 



Total length, female twelve to fourteen inches; wing, eight to nine inches; tail, 

 five to five and a half inches. Male, total length, ten to eleven inches ; wing, seven 

 and a half to eight inches ; tail, five inches. 



This species is a pretty common spring and fall visitor in 

 all the New-England States, and is sometimes a resident 

 in the southern sections of these States through the winter ; 

 specimens being occasionally taken as late as January, in 

 mild seasons. This bird is one of the most destructive of 

 our rapacia : he kills all the smaller birds, robins, black- 

 birds, sparrows in great numbers, and even attacks the 

 wild pigeon and dove, which he is almost always able to 

 overtake and capture, as he is possessed of very great 

 rapidity of flight. I have seen one of these hawks make a 

 pounce at a sparrow that was singing on a low bush ; and 

 the bird happily eluding his clutch, as quick as a flash of 

 light, he turned, and pursued and captured a robin that had 

 taken flight at his first appearance, and was already quite a 

 considerable distance off: as the robin is well known to 

 have great speed of flight, this circumstance well illustrates 

 the velocity of this hawk. 



The flight of the bird consists of a series of flaps of the 



wings, with but a very few intervals of soaring : in pursuing 



the wild pigeon, the strokes of the wings of the two birds 



are nearly simultaneous. As he strikes his prey, he almost 



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