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THE WINTER HAWK. 



Falco hyemalis, Gmkl. 

 PLATE LXXI. 



Every species of bird is possessed of a certain, not always definable, 

 cast of countenance, peculiar to itself. Although it undergoes changes 

 necessary for marking the passions of the individual, its joy, its anger, 

 its terror or despondency, still it remains the same specific look. Hawks 

 are perhaps more characteristically marked in this manner than birds of 

 any other genus, being by nature intended for deeds of daring enterprise, 

 and requiring a greater perfection of sight to enable them to distinguish 

 their prey at great distances. To most persons the family-look of parti- 

 cular species does not appear so striking as to the student of Nature, who 

 examines her productions in the haunts which she has allotted to them. 

 He perceives at a glance the differences of species, and when he has once 

 bent his attention to an object, can distinguish it at distances which to 

 the ordinary observer present merely a moving object, whether beast or 

 bird. When years of constant observation have elapsed, it becomes a 

 pleasure to him to establish the differences that he has found to exist 

 among the various species of a tribe, and to display to others whose op- 

 portunities have been more limited the fruits of his research. 



T hope, kind reader, you Avill not lay presumption to my charge, when 

 I tell you that I think myself somewhat qualified to decide in a matter 

 of this kind, or say that I go too far, when I assert that the Hawk which 

 sails before me, at a distance so great that a careless observer might be 

 apt to fancy it something else, I can distinguish and name with as much 

 ease as I should recognise an old friend by his walk or his tournure. 

 Independently of the cast of countenance so conspicuously distinctive of 

 different species of birds, there are characters of separation in their pecu- 

 liar notes or cries ; and if you add to these the distinctions that exist in 

 their habits, it will be easy for you, when you have looked at the Plate 

 of the Winter Falcon and that of the Red-shouldered Hawk, and have 

 been told that their notes and manners differ greatly, to perceive that 

 these birds, although confounded by some, are truly distinct. 



The Winter Hawk is not a constant resident in the United States, 



