68 
FALCO VELOX. 
13 . FALCO VELOX. 
SHARP-SHINNED HAWK. 
WILSON, PLATE XLV. FIG. I YOUNG BIRD. 
This is a bold and daring* species, hitherto unknown 
to naturalists. The only hawk we have which ap- 
S roaches near it in colour is the pigeon hawk, already 
escribed in this work; but there are such striking 
differences in the present, not only in colour, 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, centered with 
a slender point that rises in it like the pistil of a flower. 
There is no hawk mentioned by Mr Pennant either as 
inhabiting Europe or America, agreeing with this. I 
may, therefore, with confidence, pronounce it a non- 
descript ; and have chosen a very singular peculiarity 
which it possesses for its specific appellation. 
This hawk was shot on the banks of the Schuylkill, 
near Mr Bartram’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 
reappeared with a small bird in its talons. This feat I 
saw it twice perform, so that it w as not merely an acci- 
dental 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 w ound. 
