FALCO VELOX. 
SHARP-SHINNED HAWK. 
[Plate XLV. Fig. 1, Female.] 
This is a bold and daring species, hitherto unknown to naturalists. 
The only Hawk we have Avhich approaches near it in color is the Pigeon 
Hawk, fio;ured in Plate XV. But there are such striking differences 
in the present, not only in color, but in other respects, as to point out 
decisively its claims to rank as a distinct species. Its long and slender 
legs and toes ; its red fiery eye, feathered to the eyelids ; its triangular 
grooved nostril, and length of tail, are all different from the Pigeon 
Hawk, whose legs are short, its eyes dark hazel, surrounded with a 
broad bare yellow skin, and its nostrils small and circular, centred with 
a slender point, that rises in it like the pistil of a flower. There is no 
Hawk mentioned by Pennant, either as inhabiting Europe or America, 
agreeing with this. I may therefore, with confidence, pronounce it a 
nondescript ; and have chosen a very singular peculiarity which it pos- 
sesses, for its specific appellation. 
This Hawk was shot on the banks of the Schuylkill, near Mr. Bar- 
tram's. Its singularity of flight surprised me long before I succeeded in 
procuring it. It seemed to throw itself from one quarter of the heavens 
to the other, with prodigious velocity, inclining to the earth ; swept 
suddenly down into a thicket, and instantly re-appeared with a small 
bird in its talons. This feat I saw it twice perform, so that it was not 
merely an accidental manoeuvre. The rapidity and seeming violence 
of these zig-zag excursions were really remarkable, and appeared to me 
to be for the purpose of seizing his prey by sudden surprise, and main 
force of flight. I kept this Hawk alive for several days, and was hopeful 
I might be able to cure him ; but he died of his Avound. 
On the 15th of September, two young men whom I had despatched 
on a shooting expedition, met with this species on one of the ranges of 
the Alleghany. It was driving around in the same furious headlong man- 
ner, and had made a sweep at a red squirrel, which eluded its grasp, and 
itself became the victim. These are the only individuals of this bird I 
have been able to procure, and fortunately they were male and female. 
The female of this species (represented in the plate) is thirteen inches 
long, and twenty -five inches in extent ; the bill is black towards the 
point on both mandibles, but light blue at its base ; cere a fine pea 
green ; sides of the mouth the same ; lores pale whitish blue, beset with 
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