

SPECIES 2. FrfLCO SPJIRVERIUS. 



AMERICAN SPARROW HAWK. 



[Plate XVI. Fig. 1. Female.] 



Emerillon de St. Domingue, BUFF, i, 291. PL enl. 465. Jirct. 

 Zool. 212. Little Falcon, LATH. Syn. t>. i, p. 110, JVo. 94. 

 16. 95. PKALE'S Museum, JVo. 389. 



IN no department of ornithology has there been greater con- 

 fusion, or more mistakes made, than among this class of birds 

 of prey. The great difference of size between the male and fe- 

 male, the progressive variation of plumage to which, for seve- 

 ral years, they are subject, and the difficulty of procuring a suf- 

 ficient number of specimens for examination; all these causes 

 conspire to lead the naturalist into almost unavoidable mistakes. 

 For these reasons, and in order, if possible, to ascertain each 

 species of this genus distinctly, I have determined, where any 

 doubt or ambiguity prevails, to represent both male and female, 

 as fair and perfect specimens of each may come into my pos- 

 session. According to fashionable etiquette the honour of pre- 

 cedence, in the present instance, is given to the female of this 

 species; both because she is the most courageous, the largest 

 and handsomest of the two, best ascertained, and less subject 

 to change of colour than the male, who will require some fur- 

 ther examination and more observation, before we can venture 

 to introduce him. 



This bird is a constant resident in almost every part of the 

 United States, particularly in the states north of Maryland. In 

 the southern states there is a smaller species found, which is 

 destitute of the black spots on the head; the legs are long and 

 very slender, and the wings light blue. This has been sup- 

 posed, by some, to be the male of the present species; but this 

 is an error. The eye of the present species is dusky; that of 

 the smaller species a brilliant orange; the former has the tail 



