DESCRIPTIVE LIST 165 



KEY TO SPECIES 



1. Tail emarginate, even, or nearly so, wing not more than 8.80. Sharp-shinned Hawk. 

 1. Tail rounded, wing not less than 8.85. Cooper's Hawk. 



147. Accipiter velox (Wils.}. SHARP-SHINNED HAWK. 



Description. General color bluish gray, underparts white barred with rusty; immature birds 

 dusky brown above, underparts white streaked with brown or dusky. L., 10.75 to 14.25; W., 

 6.50 to 8.25; T., 5.50 to 7.25 and feathers of uniform length. The males are much smaller than 

 the females. 



Range. Whole of North America, south in winter to Panama. 



Range in North Carolina. Resident in the mountains, but usually only a winter visitor else- 

 where in the State. 



FIG. 124. SHARP-SHINNED HAWK. 



Although the Sharp-shinned Hawk is undoubtedly present throughout the State, 

 we have but few actual records. Cairns called it a common resident in Buncombe 

 County, while in the central region we have it recorded as a winter visitor in 

 Orange, Wake, Guilford, and Granville counties, where it occurs from the middle 

 of August to April 15. Coues recorded it as once taken at Fort Macon in Sep- 

 tember. 



This species is one of the few hawks that confine their attacks mainly to birds. 

 C. S. Brimley shot one that had captured a Flicker which must have weighed almost 

 as much as the hawk, and Pearson saw one catch a Quail in Granville County. In 

 pursuit of its prey, it can twist and double in and out among bushes or trees with 

 most surprising speed. 



Late in April, 1894, a set of three fresh eggs was brought to Pearson at Guilford 

 College by a boy of the neighborhood, who stated that he had taken them from a 

 nest in a pine tree about twenty-five feet from the ground. Three weeks later the 

 boy appeared with four more eggs which he had collected from another nest in close 

 proximity to the former one. Both nests were evidently made by the same pair of 

 birds. We have no other record of this species breeding in the State. 



148. Accipiter cooperi (Bonap.}. COOPER'S HAWK; "BLUE DARTER"; 

 "CHICKEN HAWK"; "BLUE-TAILED HAWK." 



Description. Very similar to preceding, but larger, and crown blackish in adult. L., 16.00; 

 W., 9.00; T., 9.00 and with rounded end. 



Range. Whole of temperate North America, including most of Mexico. 

 Range in North Carolina. -Whole State at all seasons. 



