SHARP-SHINNED HAWK. 195 



This is one of those birds regarding which the idea prevailed that 

 they took game and poultry, and should therefore be killed whenever 

 they came within reach. But the evidence shows that the Marsh 

 Hawk does so only on very rare occasions. It does so much good 

 by the destruction of injurious rodents, that I hope in future it will 

 be allowed to follow its course in peace. 



GENUS ACCIPITER BRISSON. 



SUBGENUS ACCIPITER. 

 ACCIPITER VELOX (WiLs.). 



140. Sharp-shinned Hawk. (332) 



Feet, extremely slender; bare portion of tarsus longer than middle toe; 

 scutelke, frequently fused; tail, square. Above, dark brown (deepest on the 

 head, the occipital feathers showing white when disturbed), with an ashy or 

 plumbeous shade, which increases with age till the general east is quite bluish- 

 ash ; below, white or whitish, variously streaked with dark brown and rusty, 

 finally changing to brownish-red (palest behind and slightly ashy across the 

 breast), with the white then only showing in narrow cross-bars; chin, throat 

 and crissum mostly white with blackish penciling ; wings and tail, barred with 

 ashy and brown or blackish ; the quills, white, barred basally ; the tail, whitish 

 tipped; bill, dark; claws, black; cere and feet, yellow. Male: 10-12; wings, 

 6-7; tail. ">-ti. Female: 12-14; wings, 7-8; whole foot, 3^ or less. 



HAB. North America in general, south to Panama. 



Nest, in trees. 



Kggs, four or five, grayish-white, shaded with purple and splashed with 

 brown, in endless shapes and shades. 



This is a rather common summer resident in Southern Ontario, 

 smaller in size than Cooper's Hawk, but similar in markings. It 

 lives chiefly on small birds, and nothing can exceed the impetuosity 

 with which it dashes down and captures them by sheer power of 

 flight. 



" Many have been the times," says Audubon, " when watching this 

 vigilant, active and industrious bird, have I seen it plunge headlong 

 into a patch of briers, in defiance of all thorny obstacles, and passing 

 through, emerge on the other side, bearing off with exultation in its 

 sharp claws a finch or a sparrow which it had surprised at rest." 



This species is much given to variation in size and markings, 

 making it difficult at times to distinguish between a large Sharp- 

 .shinned and a small Cooper's Hawk. In the present species, the legs 



