rounded at the end, the latter slightly forked. Such essential differences never take place between two individuals of the same species. It ought, however, to be remarked, that in all the figures and descriptions I have hitherto met with of the bird now before us, the iris is represented of a bright golden colour; but in all the specimens I have shot I uniformly found the eye very dark, almost black, resembling a globe of black glass. No doubt the golden colour of the iris would give the figure of the bird a more striking appearance; but in works of natural history to sacrifice truth to mere picturesque effect is detestable; though, I fear, but too often put in practice.

The nest of this species is usually built in a hollow tree; generally pretty high up, where the top or a large limb has been broken off. I have never seen its eggs; but have been told that the female generally lays four or five, which are of a light brownish yellow colour, spotted with a darker tint; the young are fed on grasshoppers, mice, and small birds, the usual food of the parents.

The habits and manners of this bird are well known. It flies rather irregularly, occasionally suspending itself in the air, hovering over a particular spot for a minute or two, and then shooting off in another direction. It perches on the top of a dead tree, or pole in the middle of a field or meadow, and as it alights shuts its long wings so suddenly that they seem instantly to disappear; it sits here in an almost perpendicular position, sometimes for an hour at a time, frequently jerking its tail, and reconnoitering the ground below, in every direction, for mice, lizards, &c. It approaches the farm-house, particularly in the morning, skulking about the barn-yard for mice or young chickens. It frequently plunges into a thicket after small birds, as if by random; but always with a particular, and generally a fatal, aim. One day I observed a bird of this species perched on the highest top of a large poplar, on the skirts of the wood; and was in the act of raising the gun to my eye when he swept down with the rapidity of an arrow into a thicket of briars about thirty yards off; where I shot him dead; and on coming

up

found the small field sparrow (fig. 2,) quivering in his grasp. Both our aims had been taken in the same instant, and, unfortunately for him, both were fatal. It is particularly fond of watching along hedge rows, and in orchards, where those small birds, represented in the same plate, usually resort. When grasshoppers are plenty they form a considerable part of its food.

Though small snakes, mice, lizards, &c. be favourite morsels with this active bird; yet we are not to suppose it altogether destitute of delicacy in feeding. It will seldom or never eat of any thing that it has not itself killed, and even that, if not (as epicures would term it) in good eating order, is sometimes rejected. A very respectable friend, through the medium of Mr. Bartram, informs me, that one morning he observed one of these Hawks dart down on the ground, and seize a mouse, which he carried to a fence post; where, after examining it for some time, he left it; and, a little while after, pounced upon another mouse, which he instantly carried off to his nest, in the hollow of a tree hard by. The gentleman, anxious to know why the hawk had rejected the first mouse, went up to it, and found it to be almost covered with lice, and greatly emaciated! Here was not only delicacy of taste, but sound and prudent reasoning." If I carry this to my nest," thought he, "it will fill it with vermin, and hardly be worth eating."

The Blue Jays have a particular antipathy to this bird, and frequently insult it by following and imitating its notes so exactly as to deceive even those well acquainted with both. In return for all this abuse the hawk contents himself with, now and then, feasting on the plumpest of his persecutors; who are therefore in perpetual dread of him; and yet, through some strange infatuation, or from fear that if they lose sight of him he may attack them unawares, the Sparrow Hawk no sooner appears than the alarm is given, and the whole posse of Jays follow.

The female of this species, which is here faithfully represented from a very beautiful living specimen, furnished by a particular friend, is eleven inches long, and twenty-three from tip

to tip of the expanded wings. The cere and legs are yellow; bill blue, tipt with black; space round the eye greenish blue; iris deep dusky; head bluish ash; crown rufous; seven spots of black, on a white ground, surround the head in the manner represented in the figure; whole upper parts reddish bay, transversely streaked with black; primary and secondary quills black, spotted on their inner vanes with brownish white; whole lower parts yellowish white, marked with longitudinal streaks of brown, except the chin, vent and femoral feathers, which are white; claws black.

VOL II h

FALCO SPARVERIUS.

AMERICAN SPARROW HAWK.

[Plate XXXII.-Fig. 2, Male.]

Little Hawk, Arct. Zool. 211, No. 110.-Emerillon de Cayenne, BUFF. I, 291, Pl. enl. No. 444.-LATH. I, 110.-PEALE'S MUseum, No. 340.*

As the male and the female of this species differ considerably in the markings of their plumage, the male is introduced, drawn to one half its natural size, to conform with the rest of the figures on the plate.

The male Sparrow Hawk measures about ten inches in length, and twenty-one in extent; the whole upper parts of the head are of a fine slate blue, the shafts of the plumage being black, the crown excepted, which is marked with a spot of bright rufous; the slate tapers to a point on each side of the neck; seven black spots surround the head, as in the female, on a reddish white ground, which also borders each sloping side of the blue; front, lores, line over and under the eye, chin and throat, white; femoral and vent feathers yellowish white; the rest of the lower parts of the same tint, each feather being streaked down the centre with a long black drop, those on the breast slender, on the sides larger; upper part of the back and scapulars deep reddish bay, marked with ten or twelve transverse waves of black; whole wing-coverts, and ends of the secondaries, bright slate, spotted with black; primaries and upper half of the second

*We add the following synonymes:-Falco sparverius. LINN. Syst. ed. 10, p. 90.—GMEL. Syst. 1, p. 284.—Ind. Orn. p. 42.—F. Dominicensis, GMEL. Syst. 1, p. 285.-Little Hawk, CATESBY, 1, p. 5.—L'Emerillon de la Caroline, BRISS. Orn. 1, p. 386. L'Emerillon de St. Domingue, Id. p. 389.—Tinnunculus sparverius, VIEIL. Ois. de l'Am. Sept. p. 12--13.

aries black, tipt with white, and spotted on their inner vanes with the same; lower part of the back, the rump and tail-coverts, plain bright bay; tail rounded, the two exterior feathers white, their inner vanes beautifully spotted with black; the next bright bay, with a broad band of black near its end, and tipt for half an inch with yellowish white, part of its lower exterior edge white, spotted with black, and its opposite interior edge touched with white; the whole of the others are very deep red bay, with a single broad band of black near the end, and tipt with yellowish white; cere and legs yellow, orbits the same, bill light blue; iris of the eye dark, almost black, claws blue black.

The character of this corresponds with that of the female, given at large in the preceding article. I have reason, however, to believe, that these birds vary considerably in the colour and markings of their plumage during the first and second years; having met with specimens every way corresponding with the above, except in the breast, which was a plain rufous white, without spots; the markings on the tail also differing a little in different specimens. These I uniformly found on dissection to be males; from the stomach of one of which I took a considerable part of the carcass of a robin (Turdus migratorius,) including the unbroken feet and claws; though the robin actually measures within half an inch as long as the Sparrow Hawk.

Note. This species is very common among the cotton plantations of Georgia and East Florida. From the island of Cuba we received a living specimen, which differed in no respect from the same species in the United States.