117 



AMERICAN SPARROW HAWK. 

 FALCO SPARVERIUS. 

 [Plate XVL— Fig. l,~Female.'] 



EmeriUon de St. Bonmgue, Buff. I, 291. PL enl 465. — Arct. ZooL 212. — Little Falcon, 

 Lath. Syn. v. 1, p. 110, M. 94. lb. 95.— Pe ale's Museum, No 389. 



IN no department of ornithology has there been greater con- 

 fusion, or more mistakes made, than among this class of birds of 

 prey. The great difference of size between the male and female, 

 the progressive variation of plumage to which, for several years, 

 they are subject, and the difficulty of procuring a sufficient number 

 of specimens for examination ; all these causes conspire to lead the 

 naturalist into almost unavoidable mistakes. For these reasons, 

 and in order, if possible, to ascertain each species of this genus dis- 

 tinctly, I have determined, where any doubt or ambiguity prevails, 

 to represent both male and female, as fair and perfect specimens 

 of each may come into my possession. According to fashionable 

 etiquette the honor of precedence, in the present instance, is given to 

 the female of this species ; both because she is the most courageous, 

 the largest and handsomest of the two, best ascertained, and less 

 subject to change of color than the male, who will require some 

 further examination and more observation, before we can venture 

 to introduce him. 



This bird is a constant resident in almost every part of the 

 United States, particularly in the states north of Maryland. In the 

 southern states there is a smaller species found, which is destitute 

 of the black spots on the head ; the legs are long and very slender, 

 and the wings light blue. This has been supposed, by some, to 

 be the male of the present species ; but this is an error. The eye 

 of the present species is dusky; that of the smaller species a bril- 



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