420 BIRDS—FALCONIDA. 
GENus ACCIPITER. Brisson. 
Bill at base higher than long. Wings short; tail long; tarsi long, slender, feathered 
at base; toes padded underneath. 
ACCIPITER Fuscus (Gm.) Bp. | 
Sharp-shinned Hawk; Pigeon Hawk. 
Falco velox, KIRTLAND, Obio Geolog. Surv., 1833, 161, 172. 
Falco fuscus, READ, Fam. Visitor, iii, 1352, 220; Proc. Phila. Acad. Nat. Sci., vi, 1853, 
395. ; 
Accipiter fuscus, KIRKPATRICK, Ohio Farmer, vii, 1858, 155; Ohio Agric. Rep. for 1858, 352. 
—WHEATON, Ohio Agric. Rep. for 1860, 360; Reprint, 1861, 20; Food of Birds, etc., 
Ohio Agric. Rep. for 1874, 570; Reprint, 1375, 10.—LANGDON, Cat. Birds of Cin., 
1877, 12. 
Nisus fuscus, LANGDON, Revised List, Journ. Cin. Soc. Nat. Hist., i, 1879, 180; Reprint, 
14; Sumnier Birds, ib., ili, 1880, 225. 
Falco fuscus, GMELIN, Syst. Nat., i, 1788, 2-0. 
Falco velox, WILSON, Am. Orn., v, 1312, 220. 
Accipiter fuscus, BONAPARTE, Comp. List., 1838, 5. 
Nisus fuscus, Kaup, Mon. Fale. Cont. Orn., 1850, 64. 
Feet extremely slender; bare portion of tarsus longer than middle toe; scutellw fre- 
quently fased, tail square. Above dark-brown (deepest on the head, the occipital 
feathers showing white when disturbed) with an ashy or plumbeous shade which in- 
creases with age, till the general cast is quite bluish-ash; below white or whitish, 
variously streaked with dark-brown and rusty, finally changing to browish-red (palest 
behind and stightly ashy across the breast) with the white then only showing in narrow 
crosa-vars; chin, throat and crissum mostly white with blackish pencilling ; wings and 
tail barred with ashy and brown or blackish, the quills white-barred basally, the tail 
whitish tipped; bill dark; claws black; cere and feet yellow. Male, 10-12; wing, 6-7; 
tail, 5-6; female, 12-14; wing, 7-3; whole foot, 234 or less. 
Habitat, the whole of North America. Sonth to Panama. 
Common resident in Northern, less common in Middle and Southern 
Ohio. Dr. Kirtland and Mr. Read give this Hawk as common. Mr. 
Kirkpatrick gives us to infer that it does not remain in the vicinity of 
Cleveland during winter, but states that it breeds. Mr. Langdon gives 
it as rare in the vicinity of Cincinnati, and cites Mr. Dury as authority 
for its breeding there. Inthis vicinity it is rather rare, though, I believe, 
a resident throughout the year. 
The Sharp shinned Hawk is one of the most daring and dashing of 
the family, frequently and successfully visiting the barn-yard for food, 
and often attacking birds of nearly its own weight. Sometimes, how- 
ever, he fails to obtain his prey, either from over confidence in his own 
abilities, or under estimation of the powers of his victim. I once saw an 
adult bird of this species pounce upon a Meadowlark, quietly feeding upon 
