COOPER’S HAWK. 
7 
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 further subdivided into two sections, to 
one of which the name of Jlstur has more strictly been assigned, 
while the other has been distinguished by those of Sparvius, and 
Jlccipiter. The former, of which the Goshawk of Europe and 
North America (Black-capped Hawk of Wilson) is the type, is 
characterized 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. 
The second section, to which the present new species belongs, 
possessing all its characters in a pre-eminent degree, equally with 
the Hawk described by Wilson in its adult state as Falco pensyl- 
vanicus, and in its youth as Falco velox , was established on the 
Sparrowhawk of Europe, Falco nisus; but the American species 
just mentioned are no less typical. The Hawks of this section 
are more elegantly shaped, being much more slender; their wings 
are still shorter than in the other section, reaching little beyond 
the origin of the tail, and their tarsi slender and elongated, with 
a smooth and almost continuous covering. 
Notwithstanding their smaller size and diminished strength, 
their superior courage and audacity, and the quickness of their 
movements, enable them to turn the flight of the largest birds, 
and even sometimes, when in captivity together, to overcome them. 
We have kept a Sparrowhawk, ( Falco nisus ) which, in the space 
