COOPER’S HAWK. 
363 
COOPER’S HAWK — FALCO COOPERII Plate X. Fig. 1. 
Philadelphia Museum^ No. 403 . — My Collection. 
ASTUB COOPERII.— Bonaparte ?* 
Falco Cooperii, Bonap. Synop. App. p. 433. — The Stanley hawk, Falco Stanleii ? 
And. pi. 36. m. and f. Orn. JBiog. i. p. 186. 
Buffon complained of the difficulty of writing a history of 
birds, because he already knew eight hundred species, and 
supposed that there might actually exist fifteen hundred, or 
even, said he, venturing as he thought to the limit of proba- 
bility, two thousand ! What then would be his embarrassment 
at present, when nearly six thousand species are known, and 
fresh discoveries are daily augmenting the number ? 
The difficulties attending a general work on this subject are 
not, perhaps, experienced in an equal degree by one who con- 
fines himself to the history of a particular group, or of the 
species inhabiting a single district. Nevertheless, in a work 
like the present, which is not a monography limited to one 
genus or family, but embraces within its scope species belong- 
ing to all the different tribes, it is requisite, in order to ex- 
plain their various relations and analogies, that the author 
should be more or less acquainted with the whole system of 
nature. To attempt, without the aid of methodical arrange- 
ment, a subject so vast, and apparently unlimited, would be 
* We have the authority of the Prince of Musignano for considering the 
Stanley hawk of Audubon identical with Astur Cooperii ; and from a compari- 
son, as far as plates and descriptions will allow, they seem at all events very 
closely allied. The bird is comparatively rare. Mr Audubon observed them in 
Louisiana, and about the Falls of Niagara, and describes them as very bold and 
intrepid, so much so, that one which had seized a cock in a farm yard, was re- 
peatedly forced to the ground before it could master its victim. 
W’e would recommend for perusal the manners of the genus Astur, as por- 
trayed in this description. Any one who has witnessed the common species of 
Europe, will at once perceive the truth of the delineation. — Ed. 
