COOPER'S HAWK. 265 
length, to the tip of their tail, which is even, or but very slightly 
rounded, and by their first quill-feather or primary, which is 
very short, while the fourth is constantly the longest. Their 
bill, suddenly curved from the base, is very strong and sharp ; 
their head is narrowed before, with the eyes placed high, large, 
and fiery. ‘Their feet are very long, and the toes especially, 
the middle one of which is much the longest, and all are armed 
with very strong sharp talons, well seconding the sanguinary 
nature of these fierce creatures ; their outer toe is connected at 
base by a membrane to the middle one. The female is always 
one-third larger than the male, and the plumage of both is, 
in most species, dark above and white beneath—in the adult, 
barred with reddish or dusky. In the young bird the colour is 
lighter, the feathers skirted with ferruginous, and the white of 
the under parts streaked longitudinally with dusky, instead of 
being barred. The tail is uniform in colour with the back, 
with almost always a few broad bands of black, and sometimes 
of white, and a whitish tip. 
The hawks (Astwres) combine cunning with agility and 
strength. Sudden and impetuous in their movements, they 
make great havoc, especially among birds that keep in flocks, 
as pigeons, blackbirds, &c., and are the terror of the poultry 
yard. Fearless and sanguinary, they never feed, even when 
pressed by hunger, except on red and warm-blooded animals, 
whose quivering limbs they tear with savage delight. Birds 
they pluck very carefully, and quarter, before eating them, but 
swallow small quadrupeds entire, afterwards ejecting their 
skins rolled up into a ball. They always pursue and seize 
their prey upon the wing, not falling upon it from aloft, but, 
rapidly skimming the earth, make their insidious approaches 
sideways, and singling out their victim, dart upon it with fatal 
velocity. ‘They never soar, like the kites and eagles, to the 
upper regions of the atmosphere ; and it is only during the 
nuptial season that they are observed sailing in wide circles in 
the air. Their favourite,haunts, during summer, are forests, 
building their nests on trees; in winter they spread over the 
