BLA CK HA WK. 2 g I 



the necessity which obliges me to contract the figures of these 

 birds, by which much of the grandeur of the originals is lost ; 

 particular attention, however, has been paid in the reduction 

 to the accurate representation of all their parts. 



This is a remarkably shy and wary bird, found most fre- 

 quently along the marshy shores of our large rivers ; feeds on 

 mice, frogs, and moles ; sails much, and sometimes at a great 

 height ; has been seen to kill a duck on wing ; sits by the side 

 of the marshes on a stake for an hour at a time, in an almost 

 perpendicular position, as if dozing ; flies with great ease, and 

 occasionally with great swiftness, seldom flapping the wings ; 

 seems particularly fond of river shores, swamps, and marshes ; 

 is most numerous with us in winter, and but rarely seen in 

 summer ; is remarkable for the great size of its eye, length of 

 its wings, and shortness of its toes. The breadth of its head 

 is likewise uncommon. 



The black hawk is twenty-one inches long, and four feet 

 two inches in extent ; bill, bluish black ; cere, and sides of the 

 mouth, orange yellow ; feet, the same ; eye, very large ; iris, 

 bright hazel ; cartilage overhanging the eye, prominent, of a 

 dull greenish colour ; general colour above, brown black, 

 slightly dashed with dirty white; nape of the neck, pure 

 white under the surface ; front, white ; whole lower parts 5 

 black, with slight tinges of brown ; and a few circular touches 

 of the same on the femorals ; legs, feathered to the toes, and 

 black, touched with brownish ; the wings reach rather beyond 

 the tip of the tail ; the five first primaries are white on their 

 inner vanes ; tail, rounded at the end, deep black, crossed with 

 five narrow bands of pure white, and broadly tipt with dull 

 white ; vent, black, spotted with white ; inside vanes of the 

 primaries, snowy ; claws, black, strong, and sharp ; toes, 

 remarkably short. 



I strongly suspect this bird to be of the very same species 

 with the next, though both were found to be males. Although 

 differing greatly in plumage, yet, in all their characteristic 

 features, they strikingly resemble each other. The chocolate- 



