ASH-COLOURED, OR BLACK-CAP HAWK. 
285 
the same. The individual from which the drawing was made 
is faithfully represented in the plate, reduced to one half its 
natural dimensions. This bird was shot within a few miles of 
Philadelphia, and is now preserved, in good order, in Mr 
Peale’s museum. 
Its general make and aspect denotes great strength and 
spirit ; its legs are strong, and its claws of more than propor- 
tionate size. Should any other specimen or variety of this 
Hawk, differing from the present, occur during the publica- 
tion of this work, it will enable me more accurately to designate 
the species. 
The Black-cap Hawk is twenty-one inches in length ; the 
bill and cere are blue ; eye, reddish amber ; crown, black, 
bordered on each side by a line of white finely specked with 
black; these lines of white meet on the hind head; whole 
upper parts, slate, tinged with brown, slightest on the quills ; 
the construction of the tarsi, but the habits and general form are nearly 
similar. In the Ornithology of America, the Astur Pennsylvanicus will shew 
an example of the one ; the bird now in question that of the other. 
In general form, the birds of this group are strong, but do not shew the firm 
and compact structure of the true Falcon. The wings are short and rounded, 
and present a considerable under surface, favourable to a smooth and sailing 
flight, which power is rendered more perfect by the lengthened and expanded 
tail. The tarsi and feet bear a relative proportion of strength to their bodies, 
and the claws are more than usually hooked and sharp ; that of the inner toe 
always equal to the hallux. Their favourite abodes are woods, or well clothed 
countries, where they build and rear their young, hunting for prey about the 
skirts. They are extremely active and bold; their flight is sailing in circles, 
or, when in search of prey, skimming near to the ground, about fences and brush, 
and darting at any thing, either on the ground or on wing, with great celerity. 
I have seen some of our native species pick up a bird, when flying near the 
ground, so rapidly, that the motion of stooping and clutching was hardly 
perceptible, and the flight continued, as if nothing had happened. During 
their higher flights, or when threading through a thick wood, which they do 
with great dexterity, the motions of the tail are perceived directing their 
movements, and, in the latter case, is most conspicuously necessary. When 
perched at rest the position is unusually erect ; so much, that the line of the 
back and tail is almost perpendicular. The plumage in the adults is often of a 
dark leaden colour above, with bars and crosses on the under parts ; in the 
young, the upper surface assumes different shades of brown, while the markings 
beneath are longitudinal Ed. 
