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COOPER’S HAWK. 
lighter, the feathers skirted with ferruginous, and the white of 
the under parts streaked longitudinally with dusky, instead of 
being barred. The tail is uniform in colour with the back, 
with almost always a few broad bands of black, and sometimes 
of white, and a whitish tip. 
The hawks (Astures) combine cunning with agility and 
strength. Sudden and impetuous in their movements, they 
make great havoc, especially among birds that keep in flocks, 
as pigeons, blackbirds, &c., and are the terror of the poultry 
yard. Fearless and sanguinary, they never feed, even when 
pressed by hunger, except on red and warm-blooded animals, 
whose quivering limbs they tear with savage delight. Birds 
they pluck very carefully, and quarter, before eating them, but 
swallow small quadrupeds entire, afterwards ejecting their 
skins rolled up into a ball. They always pursue and seize 
their prey upon the wing, not falling upon it from aloft, but, 
rapidly skimming the earth, make their insidious approaches 
sideways, and, singling out their victim, dart upon it with fatal 
velocity. They never soar, like the kites and eagles, to the 
upper regions of the atmosphere ,* and it is only during the 
nuptial season that they are observed sailing in wide circles in 
the air. Their favourite haunts, during summer, are forests, 
building their nests on trees ,* in winter they spread over the 
plains. Though generally observed alone, the male and his 
companion are seldom far apart. During the youth of their 
progeny, the parents keep them company, in order to teach 
them to hunt their prey, and at such times they are observed 
in families. 
This group may be farther subdivided into two sections, to 
one of which the name of Astur has more strictly been assign- 
ed, while the other has been distinguished by those of Spar- 
vius and Accipifer, The former, of which the goshawk of Eu- 
rope and North America (black-capped hawk of Wilson) is the 
type, is characterised by its wings being somewhat longer, 
body more robust, and shorter, and much thicker tarsi. This 
is the only species that inhabits the United States and Europe. 
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