151 
FALCONS, HAWKS, EAGLES, ETC. 
GENUS ACCIPITER. 
General Characters. — Head small, wings short, tail and legs long; three 
to five outer primaries cut out on inner webs; tail square or rounded, 
about equal to length of wing. 
KEY TO ADULT MALES. 
1. Under parts gray, finely barred with zigzag lines. 
2. Upper parts clear bluish gray.atricapillus, p. 152. 
2'. Upper parts slaty blue inclining to sooty . . . striatulus, p. 153. 
1 . Under parts white, coarsely barred with reddish brown. 
2. Tail rounded. cooperii, p. 152. 
2'. Tail even or emarginate. velox, p. 151. 
Subgenus Accipiter. 
Length 20 or less; tarsus feathered for one third or less of its length. 
332. Accipiter velox (JFtYs.). Sharp-shinned Hawk. 
Adult male. — Under parts white, heavily barred and spotted with reddish 
brown; upper parts nearly uniform bluish gray; tail even or slightly notched , 
with three or four narrow blackish bands, 
and narrow white tip. Adult female: similar, 
but duller, less blue above, less reddish below. 
Young: upper parts dark brown, edged with 
rusty and with hints of white spotting; under 
parts white, often tinged with buffy, streaked 
vertically with brown ; sides and flanks barred 
with reddish brown. Male: length 10.00-11.50, 
wing 6.10-7.10, tail 5.80-6.10. Female: length 
12.50-14.00, wing 7.80-8.80, tail 6.60-8.20. 
Remarks. — The young are decidedly larger 
than the adults, and the breast markings are 
vertical instead of horizontal. 
Distribution. — Breeds throughout the United 
States, and in the British provinces as far north 
as the Arctic circle; winters from 40° north; 
southward to Guatemala. 
Nest. — A remodeled one of crow, magpie, 
or squirrel, or if new, made of dry sticks sparsely 
lined with inner bark or green leaves; placed 
usually in a dense conifer, about twenty feet 
from the ground. Eggs: 4 or 5, pale bluish or greenish white, fading to 
dull grayish white, most irregularly and heavily blotched, spotted, and 
marbled with brown; in some specimens ground color almost hidden by 
confluent brown markings. 
Food. — Chiefly birds and young poultry, with a few mice, reptiles, 
batrachians, and insects. 
• 
Among the hawks the sharp-shinned is a veritable bushwhacker. 
His light body, short wings, and long tail enable him to double and 
turn among the brush and branches, and in a noiseless, fox-like way 
pounce over a hedgerow or brush heap into the midst of a flock of 
sparrows, swoop under the low branches and pick his bird from the 
ground, or dart through the treetops and snatch one in mid air from 
the midst of a startled flock. 
From Biological Survey, U. S. 
Dept, of Agriculture. 
Fig. 222. 
