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282 WHITE-TAILED HAWR. 
best reward, they cannot fail to incur the merited reprobation 
of all honourable and fair-dealing naturalists. 
Though this bird ranges so widely over the American con- 
tinent, it is everywhere a rare species, and in the United States 
appears to be confined to the southern extremity. The speci- 
men figured in the plate, of the natural size, was shot in De- 
cember, in the neighbourhood of St Augustine, Hast Florida, 
at the residence of my near relation, Colonel Achilles Murat, 
whose kind hospitality afforded to Mr Titian Peale every faci- 
lity for the prosecution of his scientific researches. It was 
observed by Mr Peale, about the dawn of day, sitting on the 
dead branch of an old live oak, attentively watching the borders 
of an adjacent salt marsh, which abounded with Arvicola his- 
pidus, and the different species of sparrow which make their 
residence in the southern parts of the Union. It was very 
shy, and, on his approach, it flew in easy circles at a moderate 
elevation ; and such was its vigilance, that the greater part of 
a day was spent in attempting to get within gunshot. At 
length, the cover of interposing bushes enabled him to effect 
his purpose. It was a beautiful female, in perfect adult 
plumage. This sex, in the perfect state, is now for the first 
time represented, '’emminck’s plate representing the young 
female only ; and even the figures of the African analogue, in 
Le Vaillant’s works, exhibit only the male in the young and 
adult states. As usual in the tribe of predaceous birds, the 
female is much larger than the male, and is therefore entitled 
to precedence. 
Though this species is so rare, its near relative, the black- 
winged hawk, appears, on the contrary, to be very numerous. 
In Africa, where it was first discovered, and which is probably 
its native country, it is rather a common species, and has a very 
extensive range. Le Vaillant frequently observed it on the 
eastern coast of that little known continent, from Duyven- 
Hoek to Caffraria, where, however, it is less common. The 
same traveller found it to inhabit also in the interior, in the 
Cambdebo, and on the shores of the Swart-kop and Sunday 
