THE SHARP-SHINNED HAWK. 31 



blotches and markings of a shade darker than the ground- 

 color of the egg. A great number of specimens in my col- 

 lection exhibit a variation in dimensions of from 1.82 inch 

 to 2 inches in length, by from 1.50 inch to 1.62 in breadth. 

 The average dimensions are about 1.78 inch by 1.52 inch. 

 The breeding season varies considerably with this species, 

 even in the same latitude. I have found nests with eggs as 

 early as the first week in May, and as late as the first week 

 in June. Usually the eggs are laid before the 20th of May 

 in Massachusetts. The season for the northern district of 

 New England seems to be from one to two weeks later than 

 this ; that of the southern district, about a week earlier. 



A pair of birds that nested in Newton. Mass., in the 

 summer of 1866, were robbed of their eggs four times in 

 the season. They built different nests in the same grove, 

 and laid in the four litters four, four, five, and three eggs 

 'respectively. The eggs of the last litter were very small ; 

 but little larger than the eggs of the Sharp-shinned Hawk. 



ACCIPITEE FUSCUS. — Gmelin. 

 The Sharp-shinned Hawk. 



Falcofuscus et dubius, Gm. Syst. Nat., I. 280, 281 (1788). 



Accipiter striaius, Vieillot. Ois. d'Am. Sept., I. 42 (1807). 



Falco velox et Pennsylvanicus, Wilson. Am. Orn., V. 116, and VI. p. 13 (1812). 



Sparvius lineatus, Vieillot. Ency. Meth., III. 1266 (1823). 



Nisus Malfini, Lesson. Traite d'Orn., I. 58 (1831). 



Description. 



Adult. — Small; tail rather long; legs and toes slender; entire upper parts 

 brownish-black, tinged with ashy; occiput mixed with white; throat and under tail 

 coverts white, the former with lines of black on the shafts of the feathers ; other 

 under parts fine light rufous, deepest on the tibise, and with transverse bands 

 of white; shafts of the feathers with lines of dark-brown; tail ashy-brown tipped 

 with white, and with about four bands of brownish-black ; quills brownish-black, 

 with bands of a darker shade, and of white on their inner webs; secondaries and 

 tertiaries with large partially concealed spots of white. 



Young. — Entire upper parts dull umber-brown, tinged with ashy; neck behind 

 mixed with white ; greater wing coverts and shorter quills with large partially con- 

 cealed spots of white ; under parts white, with longitudinal stripes and circular and 

 ovate spots of reddish-brown, changing into transverse bands on the flanks 



