74 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Accipiter velox (Wilson) 

 Sharp-shinned Hawk 



Plate 44 



Falco velox Wilson. Am. Om. 1812. 5:116. PI. 45, fig. i 

 Astur fuscus DeKay. Zool. N. Y. 1844. pt 2, p. 17, fig. 2 

 Accipiter velox A. O. U. Check List. Ed. 3. 1910. p. 155. No. 332 



accipiter, L., a hawk; velox, L., swift 



Description. Wings short and rounded; tail long and nearly square; 

 tarsi and toes long and slender; the former feathered one-third of the way 

 down in front; bill stout, sharp and festooned or sinuate on the cutting 

 edge. Adult cf and 9 : Above, slaty or bluish-gray, more fuscous on 

 wings and tail; primaries and tail barred with blackish, the tail usually with 

 4 bars, the subterminal one broad, and the tip whitish; under parts white 

 more or less heavily barred with rufous except on throat and crissum, these 

 rufous bars borne outward along each feather shaft, and the shafts, even 

 on the throat, mostly blackish; bases of the occipital feathers downy white; 

 scapulars and bases of primaries with concealed white spots. Young: 

 Above fuscous or urubu brown, varied with rusty on the feather edges; 

 below, dull white or buffy, spotted and streaked with dark brown or pale 

 reddish brown; the wings, tail and concealed spots on occiput and scapular 

 much as in the adults. Cere and feet yellow, often with greenish tinge; 

 iris according to age varying from grayish yellow to yellow and in high 

 plumage red. 



Length c/' 10-12 inches, 9 13-14; extent cf 21-23, 9 25-27; wing cf 

 6-7, 9 7-8.75; tail cf 5-7.75, 9 6-8; tarsus 2-2.15; rniddle toe 1.18-1.38. 



Field marks. The small size of this hawk, when taken with its short 

 rounded wings and long square tail, will serve to distinguish it. Its dashing 

 flight, consisting successively of several rapid flappings followed by a short 

 soar, together with its general shape, it shares with the Cooper hawk, the 

 males of which species little more than equal females of this species in 

 size, but the Sharp-shinned hawk has the square tail while the Cooper 

 hawk has the rounded tail and, as intimated, is really larger. From the 

 small falcons, that is the Pigeon hawk and the Sparrow hawk, it can be 

 distinguished easily by its short rounded wings as compared with the falcon's 

 long and pointed ones. 



Distribution. The Sharp-shinned hawk is one of our commonest and 



