ZOOLOGY. 
143 
by the hawk or my shot, was so frightened that it made no effort to escape from the claws 
which still held it with the grasp of death. When I released it it flew to a tree near by, and 
for some time showed its astonishment and joy by loud cries. 
As the pigeon hawk is found in summer, it doubtless breeds in the Territory. In August, 
1855, I shot one of a small family of young which had but lately left the nest. They probably 
migrate southward in winter, as I found them abundant in California in October and 
November.—C. 
About the 1st of August this bird becomes very abundant in the vicinity of Fort Steilacoom. 
W. T. During the summer and autumn of 1856 I obtained a number of specimens in different 
stages of plumage. Several of these had regular oval spots of rust or cinnamon color on the 
inner vanes of the primaries. In this character these birds appear to resemble the bird 
noticed by Cassin in the birds of “California, Texas,” &c., among the “doubtful and obscure” 
North American species. Falco dbscurus, Gm.—(Cassin’s work, page 118, vide quotations from 
Pennant.) 
I think that near Puget Sound this species breeds in the recesses of the Cascade mountains, 
not coming down upon the open plains until late in the summer.—S. 
FALCO POLYAGRUS, Cassin. 
The Lanier Falcon. 
Falco polyagrus, Cassin, B. of Cal. and Texas, I, p. 88, pi. 16, (1853.) 
Baird & Cassin, Gen. Rep. Birds, p. 12. 
Sr. Ch.—A bove brown, quills and tail grayish, tail with white bands. A brown strip from the corner of the eye downwards, 
and narrow brown stripes and spots below ; also a large brown patch on breast near shoulder and another on flanks. Forehead, 
cheeks, and under paits white. 
The young has the white parts much more obscured with brown ; upper parts paler brown, with rufous streaks. 
Female : length, 18 to 20 inches ; wing, 13 to 14 ; tail 7| to 8. 
This hawk is not at all rare in Oregon. I was fortunate enough to obtain a specimen of it at 
Fort Dalles, 0. T., in the beginning of the winter of 1854- 55, which was killed while in the 
act of carrying off a barnyard fowl, of about its own weight, that it had just seized from near 
the door of a dwelling-house. This action of the bird seemed to denote that, as a species, it is 
not inferior in strength, resolution, and ferocity to either the other falcons or the buzzards.—S. 
FALCO SPARVERIUS, Linnaeus. 
The Sparrow Hawk. 
Falco sparverius, Linn. Syst. Nat. I, 128, (1766.) 
Baird & Cassin, Gen. Rep. Birds, p. 13. 
F. dominicensis, cinnamoniensis, and isabellinus, Swainson, Cab. Cyd. p, 281. 
Figured in Wilson’s Am. Orn. II, p. 16, f. 1 ; Aud. B. of Am. oct. ed. 
Tinnunculus sparverius, Newberry, P. R. R. Rep. vol. YI, p. 74. 
Sp. Ch.—E asily distinguished .by its small size, rufous or ferruginous upper parts, beautifully variegated with black and 
white. The young has the back muchjmore barred, and numerous narrow bars on tail ; a large blue patch on shoulders ; spots 
beneath larger and mingled with stripes. Female larger and more like the young in colors than the male. 
Male : length, to 11 ; wing, 6 to 7 ; tail, 4j to 5j. 
Female : length, 10| to 12 ; wing, 7 to 8| ; tail, 5 to 5£. 
The sparrow hawk is extremely common during summer about prairies, even at the summit 
