SHARP-SHINNED OR SLATE-COLOURED HAWK.
Falco fuscus, Gmel.
PLATE CCCLXXIV. Male and Female.
There is a pleasure which that ornithologist only can feel who spends his days in searching for the materials best adapted for his purpose, and which arises from the contemplation of the objects he is anxious to portray and describe, as they roam in freedom over Nature’s wild domains. Another pleasure is derived from finding in different countries birds so much alike in form, colour, and habits, that they seem as if formed for the purpose of exercising our faculties of observation and comparison. But this pleasure passes into pain, or at least perplexity, when, as in the present instance, two species differ so slightly that you cannot clearly define their characters, although they yet seem to be distinct. In fact, I long felt uncertain whether the American bird described by Wilson under the names of Sharp-shinned Hawk, and Slate-coloured Hawk, was distinct from the Sparrow Hawk, F. Nisus, of Europe.
It is mentioned in the Fauna Boreali-Americana, that a specimen of this bird was killed in the vicinity of Moose Factory, and that it has been deposited by the Hudson’s Bay Company in the Zoological Museum of London. This specimen I have not seen, but confiding entirely in the accuracy of every fact mentioned by the authors of that work, I here adduce it as a proof of the extraordinary range of this species in America, which from the extreme north extends to our most southern limits, perhaps far beyond them, during its autumnal and winter migrations. I have met with it in every State or Territory of the Union that I have visited. In the spring of 1837, it was abundant in Texas, where it appeared to be travelling eastward. I have a specimen procured by Dr Townsend in the neighbourhood of the Columbia River; and, when on my way towards Labrador, I met with it plentifully as far as the southern shores of the Gulf of St Lawrence, beyond which, however, none were observed by me or any of my party.
I never saw this daring little marauder on wing without saying or thinking “There goes the miniature of the Goshawk!” Indeed, reader, the shortness of the wings of the Sharp-shinned Hawk, its long tail, though almost perfectly even, instead of being rounded as in the Goshawk, added to its irregular, swift, vigorous, varied, and yet often undecided manner of flight, greatly protracted however on occasion, have generally impressed upon me the idea alluded to. While in search of prey, the Sharp-shinned Hawk passes over the country, now at a moderate height, now close over the land, in so swift a manner that, although your eye has marked it, you feel surprised that the very next moment it has dashed off and is far away. In fact it is usually seen when least expected, and almost always but for a few moments, unless when it has procured some prey, and is engaged in feeding upon it. The kind of vacillation or wavering with which it moves through the air appears perfectly adapted to its wants, for it undoubtedly enables this little warrior to watch and to see at a single quick glance of its keen eyes every object, whether to the right or to the left, as it pursues its course. It advances by sudden dashes, as if impetuosity of movement was essential to its nature, and pounces upon or strikes such objects as best suit its appetite; but so very suddenly that it appears quite hopeless for any of them to try to escape. Many have been the times, reader, when watching this vigilant, active, and industrious bird, I have seen it plunge headlong among the briary patches of one of our old fields, in defiance of all thorny obstacles, and, passing through, emerge on the other side, bearing off with exultation in its sharp claws a Sparrow or Finch, which it had surprised when at rest. At other times I have seen two or three of these Hawks, acting in concert, fly at a Golden-winged Woodpecker while alighted against the bark of a tree, where it thought itself secure, but was suddenly clutched by one of the Hawks throwing as it were its long legs forward with the quickness of thought, protruding its sharp talons, and thrusting them into the back of the devoted bird, while it was endeavouring to elude the harassing attacks of another, by hopping and twisting round the tree. Then down to the ground assailants and assailed would fall, the Woodpecker still offering great resistance, until a second Hawk would also seize upon it, and with claws deeply thrust into its vitals, put an end to its life; when both the marauders would at once commence their repast.
On several such occasions, I have felt much pleasure in rescuing different species of birds from the grasp of the little tyrant, as whenever it seizes one too heavy to be carried off, it drops to the ground with it, and being close by, I have forced it to desist from committing further mischief, as it fears man quite as much as its poor quarry dreads itself. One of these occurrences, which happened in the neighbourhood of Charleston, in South Carolina, is thus related in my journal.
Whilst walking one delightful evening in autumn, along a fine hedge-row formed by the luxuriant Rocky Mountain rose-bushes, I observed a male of this species alighted in an upright position on the top-bar of a fence opposite to me. I marked it with particular attention, to see what might follow. The Hawk saw me as plainly as I did him, and kept peeping now at me, and now at some part of the hedge opposite, when suddenly, and with the swiftness of an arrow, it shot past me, entered the briars, and the next instant was moving off with a Brown Thrush, Turdus rufus in its talons. The Thrush, though seized by the sharp claws of the marauder, seemed too heavy for him to carry far, and I saw both falling to the ground. On running up, I observed the anxiety of the Hawk as I approached, and twice saw it attempt to rise on wing to carry off its prize; but it was unable to do so, and before it could disengage itself I was able to secure both. The Thrush must have been killed almost instantaneously, for, on examining it, I found it quite dead.
My friend Thomas Nuttall, Esq., tells us that in the “thinly settled parts of the States of Georgia and Alabama, this Hawk seems to abound, and proves extremely destructive to young chickens, a single one having been known regularly to come every day until he had carried away between twenty and thirty. At noon-day, while I was conversing with a planter, one of these Hawks came down, and without ceremony, or heeding the loud cries of the housewife, who most reluctantly witnessed the robbery, snatched away a chicken before us.” Again, while speaking of the wild and violent manner of this bird, he adds “descending furiously and blindly upon its quarry, a young Hawk of this species broke through the glass of the green-house, at the Cambridge Botanic Garden; and fearlessly passing through a second glass partition, he was only brought up by the third, and caught, though little stunned by the effort. His wing-feathers were much torn by the glass, and his flight in this way so impeded as to allow of his being approached.”
Whilst travelling to some distance, the Sharp-shinned Hawk flies high, though in a desultory manner, with irregular quick flappings of the wings, and at times, as if to pause for a while and examine the objects below, moves in short and unequal circles, after which it is seen to descend rapidly, and then follow its course at the height of only a few feet from the ground, visiting as it were every clump of low bushes or briar patches likely to be supplied with the smaller birds, on which it principally feeds. Again, after having satisfied its hunger, this little warrior, at times rises to a great height, and indeed now and then is scarcely discernible from the ground.
I found a nest of this Hawk in a hole of the well-known “Rock-in-cave” on the Ohio River, in the early part of the spring of 1819. It was simply constructed, having been formed of a few sticks and some grasses carelessly interwoven, and placed about two feet from the entrance of the hole. I had the good fortune to secure the female bird, while she was sitting on her eggs, which were nearly hatched, and it was from that individual that I made the figure in the plate. The eggs, four in number, were almost equally rounded at both ends, though somewhat elongated, and their ground colour was white, with a livid tinge, scarcely discernible however amid the numerous markings and blotches of reddish-chocolate with which they were irregularly covered. The second opportunity which I had of seeing a nest of this species occurred not far from Louisville in Kentucky, when I accidentally observed one of these hawks dive into the hollow prong of a broken branch of a sycamore overhanging the waters of the Ohio. Here the eggs were five in number, and deposited on the mouldering fragments of the decayed wood. The third and last opportunity happened when I was on my way from Henderson to St Genevieve on horseback. I saw a pair of these birds forming a nest in the forks of a low oak, in a grove in the centre of the prairie which I was then crossing. The young in the nest I have never seen.
This interesting species usually resorts to the fissures of rocks for the purpose of there passing the hours of repose, and generally in places by no means easy of access, such as precipitous declivities overhanging some turbulent stream. It is often not until the darkness has so much gained on the daylight as to render objects difficult to be distinguished, that it betakes itself to its place of rest, and then I have only been assured of its arrival by the few cries which it utters on such occasions. The earliness of its departure has often much puzzled me, for with all my anxiety to witness it, I have never succeeded in doing so, although on two or three occasions I have watched the spot more than half an hour before dawn, and remained patiently waiting until long after the sun had risen, when I clambered to the hole, and always found it empty.
The food of this Hawk consists chiefly of birds of various sizes, from the smallest of our warblers to the Passenger Pigeon or young chickens, the latter appearing to afford a special temptation to it, as has been above related. I am also aware that it feeds occasionally on small reptiles and insects, and I shot the male represented in the plate, on wing, whilst it held in its claws the small Shrew also represented. It is extremely expert at seizing some of our smaller snakes and lizards, and not unfrequently snatches up a frog while basking in the sun.
The difference of size observed between the males and females, as well as between individuals of the same sex, is very remarkable; and no doubt it was on account of this very great disparity that Wilson described specimens of both sexes as two distinct species. Its notes are short, shrill, and repeated in a hurried manner, when the bird is wounded and brought to the ground. It often emits cries of this kind while falling, but suddenly becomes silent when it comes to the earth, and then makes off swiftly, with long and light leaps, keeping silent until approached. Although a small bird, it possesses considerable muscular power, and its extremely sharp claws are apt to inflict severe pain, should a person lay hold of it incautiously.
Falco fuscus, and dubius, Gmel. and Lath.
Slate-coloured Hawk, Falco Pennsylvanicus, Wils. Amer. Ornith. vol. vi. p. 13, pl. 46, fig. 1. Adult Male.
Sharp-shinned Hawk, Falco velox, Wils. Amer. Ornith. vol. vi. p. 116, pl. 45, fig. 1. Young Female.
Falco velox, Ch. Bonaparte, Synopsis of Birds of United States, p. 29.
Falco fuscus, Ch. Bonaparte, Ibid. Append. p. 433.
Accipiter Pennsylvanicus, Slate-coloured Hawk, Richards. and Swains. Fauna Bor.-Amer. vol. ii. p. 44.
American Brown or Slate-coloured Hawk, Nuttall, Manual, vol. ii. p. 87.
Adult Male. Plate CCCLXXIV. Fig. 1.
Bill short, with the dorsal line of the upper mandible curved from the base, so as to form nearly the fourth of a circle, the sides sloping rapidly and convex toward the end, the edges sharp anteriorly, with a broad tooth-like process or prominent festoon about the middle, the tip very acute and decurvate; the cere rather short, its margin forming a convex curve before the nostrils, which are oblique, oblongo-ovate, broader behind; the lower mandible with the angle broad and short, the dorsal line convex, the back broad at the base, the sides convex, the edges inflected, the tip obliquely truncate, rounded, with a very faint sinus behind.
Head of moderate size, broad, rather flattened above; neck very short; body very slender, remarkably attenuated behind. Legs long and very slender; tarsus rather long, extremely slender, compressed, anteriorly covered with fifteen scutella disposed in a longitudinal plate, of which the inner sharp edge projects considerably, whence the name of “Sharp-shinned” given to this species, the sides with hexagonal scales, the hind part with numerous scutella. Toes slender, the third and fourth connected at the base by a web, extending beyond the second joint of the latter, and curving forward as far as that of the former; first and second toes strongest and about equal; third extremely elongated, fourth very slender; tuberculate and papillate beneath, there being a long fleshy tubercle on the last joint of each toe, and one on the next joint of the two outer. Claws very long, arched, gradually attenuated to a fine point.
Plumage full, soft, blended, somewhat distinct on the upper parts. Wings of moderate length, reaching beyond the middle of the tail; the fourth quill longest, the fifth scarcely shorter, the third intermediate between the fifth and seventh, the second a little longer than the seventh, the first generally shorter than the outer secondary; the first five quills cut out on the outer, the first four more deeply on the inner edge. The tail is long, even, of twelve rather broad, rounded feathers.
The bill is light blue at the base, bluish-black at the end; the cere and eyelids yellowish-green; the iris bright reddish-orange; the tarsi and toes yellow; the claws black, pale bluish at the base. The general colour of the plumage on the upper parts is deep greyish-blue, or dark slate-blue, the shafts darker; the feathers on the occiput are white at the base, that colour appearing more or less as they are raised; and on each of the scapulars are two large white patches, which, however, are not seen until the feathers are raised. The outer primaries are tinged with brown; all the quills are marked on the inner web with dusky bands, between which the inner margins are white toward the base. The tail has four broad bands of blackish-brown, and is tipped with greyish-white. The cheeks are yellowish-red, and the forehead is tinged with the same colour. The throat is reddish-white; the lower parts are transversely and rather broadly barred with light red and white, there being from three to five bars or double spots of the latter colour on each feather, those on the sides with the inner web entirely red; part of abdomen and lower tail-coverts white; feathers of the legs barred like the breast; lower wing-coverts yellowish-white, barred and spotted with dusky.
Length to end of tail 11 1/4 inches; to end of wings 8 3/4; to end of claws 11 1/4; extent of wings 20 1/2; wing from flexure 6 10/12; tail 5 10/12; bill along the ridge 8/12, along the edge of lower mandible 8/12; tarsus 1 11/12; hind toe 5 3/4/12, its claw, 6/12; middle toe 1 2/12, its claw 4 1/2/12. Weight 3 1/2 oz.
Adult Female. Plate CCCLXXIV. Fig. 2.
The female, which greatly exceeds the male in size is generally greyish-brown tinged with blue on the upper parts, in very old individuals bluish-grey or dark bluish-grey, more or less tinged with brown. The bill, cere, iris, feet, and claws are as in the male, and the markings on the plumage are similar on the upper parts; the lower are generally of a lighter tint, but otherwise nearly the same.
Length to end of tail 14 inches; extent of wings 26; wing from flexure 8 2/12; tail 6 8/12; bill along the ridge 10/12; tarsus 2 1/12; hind toe 7 1/2/12, its claw 7 1/2/12; middle toe 1 11/12, its claw 6/12. Weight of an individual 7 1/2 oz., of another 8 1/4.
Young birds of either sex, when fully fledged, have the upper parts generally hair-brown, on the back darker; the feathers on the head and hind neck margined with light red; those of the rest of the upper parts also terminally edged with brownish-red; the feathers of the hind head and neck are white at the base, but to less extent, and the scapulars are also spotted with the same. The lower parts are white or yellowish-white, the throat longitudinally streaked, the rest banded with dark brown, the feathers of the sides spotted, those of the legs light reddish, obscurely marked with darker along the middle; the lower tail-coverts white. The female has the markings on the lower parts much narrower at this age.
A male bird preserved in spirits presents the following characters:—The roof of the mouth is flat, with two longitudinal ridges; the posterior aperture of the nares oblong, with a linear anterior slit, papillate on the edges. The tongue is 5 twelfths long, narrow, concave above, slightly emarginate. The œsophagus, a b c d e, is 3 inches 3 twelfths long; its diameter at the upper part 5 twelfths; it enlarges on the neck to a capacious crop, c d, 1 inch in diameter. The proventriculus, e, has a complete belt of small oblong glandules. The stomach, f g, is large, roundish, membranous, without distinct muscles, 1 inch 3 twelfths long, and 1 inch broad. The intestine, g h i l, is 14 3/4 inches long, its greatest diameter 2 twelfths. The rectum, j l, is 1 inch 9 twelfths long; its diameter at the anterior part 3 twelfths; the cœca, j, are exceedingly small, forming two scarcely observable sacs, about half a twelfth in depth. The trachea is 2 1/12 inches long, its rings unossified, 78 in number; the bronchi long and slender, of about 18 half rings. The contents of the crop and stomach were portions of two small birds.
On comparing several specimens, male and female, of this Sharp-shinned Hawk, with others of the European Sparrow Hawk, the proportions are found to be similar, as are the colours of the upper parts; but the American birds, especially the males, are much smaller; and the transverse bands on the lower parts of the Sharp-shinned Hawk are redder and broader than those of the Sparrow Hawk. The number of dark bands on the tail is the same in both, namely four on the middle feathers, and six on the lateral. The tail is not always precisely even, being in both European and American birds often slightly rounded, the lateral feather being sometimes a quarter of an inch shorter than the longest.
A species most intimately allied to the Sharp-shinned Hawk presents the same form and colours, but differs somewhat in its proportions, and is much larger. The bill is much higher at the base, its upper outline slopes from the commencement, and the festoon on its edge is less prominent. The tarsi and toes are proportionally stronger, the edge on the former not nearly so prominent. The first quill is a little longer than the first secondary, the fifth quill (not the fourth) is longest; and the tail is rounded, the lateral feather in a female being eight-twelfths of an inch shorter than the longest. The dimensions of a female of this species, shot by myself in South Carolina, are as follows:—
Length to end of tail 16 1/2 inches; wing from flexure 10; tail 7 10/12; bill along the ridge 1; tarsus 2 7/12; hind toe 10/12, its claw 1; middle toe 1 8/12, its claw 7 1/2/12.
It is very probable that this is the Accipiter Mexicanus of Mr Swainson, whose brief account of a female of that species, in the Fauna Boreali-Americana, agrees sufficiently with it. There are, however, some errors in his critical observations, at p. 44. Thus, he states that Wilson’s figure of the Slate-coloured Hawk, Accipiter Pennsylvanicus, is perfectly characteristic, in having the tail quite even at the end; but that Temminck’s Autour a bec sinueux is doubtful, the tail being represented as distinctly rounded. Now, in fact, the tail of our Sharp-shinned Hawk is when perfect a little rounded, but often when worn quite even or square. Both the figures in Plate CCCLXXIV represent it as a little rounded, and such it is in five specimens out of eight, four of these being females, and one a male; while the three specimens in which the tail may be said to be quite even are males. Again, he states that “the anterior scales on the tarsus of A. Pennsylvanicus are entire, being apparently formed externally of one entire piece; whereas in Mexicanus, the transverse divisions are distinctly visible.” The latter part of the sentence is certainly correct, in so far as may be judged from a single very fine specimen; but the scales are equally distinct in all the younger individuals of the A. Pennsylvanicus, although in one, an old male, the distinctions between the greater number are obliterated, so that they resemble a single plate. There is nothing very remarkable in this, however, for the like happens to other Hawks; it having been long ago remarked with regard to the Sparrow Hawk of Europe, Accipiter Nisus, that “in some individuals, the anterior oblique scutella, as well as the hexagonal scales of the sides, are so indistinct, that all traces of them disappear when the parts become dry.”
Accipiter Nisus, A. velox, and A. Mexicanus, which are most closely allied, insomuch that it is extremely difficult to distinguish them from each other, may be characterized as follows:—
A. Mexicanus is largest; has the fifth quill longest, the first primary much longer than the last, the tail distinctly rounded, the tarsi stouter, and with fifteen scales; the upper parts deep slate-blue; the lower banded with light red and white.
A. velox is smallest, has the fourth quill longest, the first primary much shorter than the last, the tail even, the tarsi extremely slender, with fifteen scales; the colours exactly as in Mexicanus.
A. Nisus is intermediate in size, never so small as velox, but sometimes as large as Mexicanus, with the fourth quill longest, the first and last primary about equal, the tail very slightly rounded or even, the tarsi very slender, with eighteen scales, the upper parts deep slate-blue, the lower narrowly banded with light red in the male, and dusky in the female.
This species was described by Wilson under the name of Sharp-shinned Hawk, Falco velox, and figured in Pl. XLV, a young female only being represented, although a description is given of a young male also. He afterwards figured an adult male (Pl. XLVI), and described it under the name of Slate-coloured Hawk, Falco Pennsylvanicus, considering it as a distinct species. It appears, however, that it had previously been described under several names. Thus Falco fuscus of Miller and Gmelin, and the American Brown Hawk of Latham, seem to be the same bird in the young state. Falco dubius of Gmelin and Latham, the Dubious Falcon of the latter and of Pennant are also synonymous. The Dusky Falcon of Pennant and Latham, Falco obscurus of the latter and of Gmelin, may also belong to the same species. If we consider priority of name as of paramount importance, then, in so far as can be shewn, the species ought to be named the “American Brown Hawk, Falco fuscus;” or, according to the newer nomenclature, Astur or Accipiter fuscus. The names of “Sharp-shinned,” “Slate-coloured,” and “velox” are not more distinctive; and Pennsylvanicus is out of the question, having been applied to another species.