BLACK HAWK. 
289 
the head ; neck, streaked with black and reddish brown, on a 
pale yellowish white ground; whole upper parts, brown 
black, dashed with brownish white and pale ferruginous; 
tail, white for half its length, ending in brown, marked with 
one or two bars of dusky and a larger bar of black, and tipt 
with dull white; wings as in the preceding, their lining 
variegated with black, white, and ferruginous ; throat and 
breast, brownish yellow, dashed with black ; belly, beautifully 
variegated with spots of white, black, and pale ferruginous ; 
femorals and feathered legs, the same, but rather darker ; vent, 
plain brownish white. 
The original colour of these birds in their young state may 
probably be pale brown, as the present individual seemed to 
be changing to a darker colour on the neck and sides of the 
head. This change, from pale brown to black, is not greater 
than some of the genus are actually known to undergo. One 
great advantage of examining living, or newly killed specimens, 
is, that whatever may be the difference of colour between any 
two, the eye, countenance, and form of the head, instantly 
betray the common family to which they belong; for this 
family likeness is never lost in the living bird, though in 
stuffed skins and preserved specimens it is frequently entirely 
obliterated. I have no hesitation, therefore, in giving it as 
my opinion, that the present and preceding birds are of the 
same species, differing only in age, both being males. Of 
the female I am unable at present to speak. 
Pennant, in his account of the Chocolate-coloured Hawk, 
which is, very probably, the same with the present and pre- 
ceding species, observes, that it preys much on Ducks, sitting 
on a rock, and watching their rising, when it instantly strikes 
them. 
While traversing our sea coast and salt marshes, between 
Cape May and Egg Harbour, I was everywhere told of a 
Duck Hawk , noted for striking down Ducks on wing, though 
flying with their usual rapidity. Many extravagancies were 
mingled with these accounts, particularly, that it always 
VOL. II. 
T 
