COOPER’S HAWK. 
11 
crossed by four equidistant blackish bands, nearly one inch in 
breadth; the tail-coverts at their very base are whitish; the lateral 
feathers are lighter, and with some white on the inner webs. 
The legs and feet are yellow, slender, and elongated, but still 
do not reach, when extended, to the tip of the tail; the tarsus, 
feathered in front for a short space, is two and three-quarter 
inches long; as in other Jlstures, the middle toe is much the 
longest, and the inner, without the nail, is shorter than the outer, 
but taken with its much longer nail, is longer. The talons are 
black, and extremely sharp, the inner and the hind ones sub¬ 
equal, and much the largest, while the outer is the most delicate. 
The Female is larger, and measures two inches more in length, 
but in plumage is perfectly similar to the male. As the male we 
have described and figured, is evidently a young bird, it is very 
probable, that the adult, after undergoing the changes usual in 
this group, obtains a much darker and more uniform plumage 
above, and is beneath lineated transversely with reddish. That 
in this supposed plumage, the bird has not yet been found, is no 
reason to doubt its existence, as the species is comparatively rare. 
Even of the common Falco fuscus, though constantly receiving 
numerous specimens of the young, we have only been able to 
procure a single one in adult plumage, during a period of four 
years. 
We regret that this is all that is in our power to offer of the 
history of this species, which, as will be seen from the description, 
possesses in an eminent degree the characters of the group. From 
the circumstance of its being found here in autumn and winter, 
we are led to infer, that it comes to us from the North. 
