AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY 



SLATE-COLORED HAWK. 



FALCO PEJVJVSYLVAmCUS. 



[Plate XLVL— Fig. 1.] 



THIS elegant and spirited little Hawk is a native of Penn- 

 sylvania, and of the Atlantic states generally; and is now for the 

 first time introduced to the notice of the public. It frequents the 

 more settled parts of the country, chiefly in winter; is at all times 

 a scarce species; flies wide, very irregular, and swiftly; preys on 

 lizards, mice and small birds, and is an active and daring little 

 hunter. It is drawn of full size, from a very beautiful specimen 

 shot in the neighbourhood of Philadelphia. The bird within his 

 grasp is the Tariagra ruhra^ or Black- winged Red bird, in its green 

 or first year's dress. In the spring of the succeeding year the 

 green and yellow plumage of this bird becomes of a most splendid 

 scarlet, and the wings and tail deepen into a glossy black. For 

 a particular account of this Tanager see vol. II, p. 42, of the pre- 

 sent work. 



The great difficulty of accurately discriminating between dif- 

 ferent species of the Hawk tribe, on account of the various appear- 

 ances they assume at different periods of their long lives, at first 

 excited a suspicion that this might be one of those with which I 

 was already acquainted, in a different dress, namely, the Sharp- 

 shinned Hawk figured in the last plate of the fifth volume of this 

 work; for such are the changes of color to which many individuals 

 of this genus are subject, that unless the naturalist has recourse to 



VOL. VI. D 



