Head large, roundish-ovate; neck short; body rather full. Legs of moderate length, rather strong; tarsus anteriorly covered with seven scutella, posteriorly with two plates forming a sharp edge; toes rather large, the first stout, the lateral nearly equal, the middle toe much longer. Claws rather long, arched, much compressed, acute.
Plumage soft and blended. Wings of moderate length, broad. The first quill two-twelfths shorter than the second, which is longest, but scarcely exceeds the third, the fourth longer than the first; secondaries slightly emarginate. Tail rather long, nearly even.
Bill with the upper mandible dusky, the lower white. Iris hazel. Feet and claws wood-brown. Head, cheeks, and a small portion of the throat black; the upper parts brownish-black; the feathers on the lower part of the hind neck all round, a streak over each eye, another along the middle of the hind head, the greater part of the rump, and the lower parts generally, yellowish-red or brownish-orange; the edges of some of the feathers on the back, a broad band formed by the first row of small coverts, a narrow band formed by the tips of the secondary coverts, a band on the base of the primaries, the outer web of the first excepted, the margins of three of the primaries toward the end, and a spot on the outer web of most of the secondaries at the end; a large patch on the inner web of all the tail-feathers, excepting the two middle, and largest on the outer, pure white; the middle of the breast and abdomen, with the axillaries and lower wing-coverts, yellow.
Length to end of tail 8 1/2 inches; wing from flexure 4 1/4; tail 3 8/12; bill along the ridge 9/12, along the edge of lower mandible 10/12; tarsus 11/12; hind toe 4 1/2/12, its claw 5/12; middle toe 8/12, its claw 3 1/2/12.
Adult Female. Plate CCCLXXIII. Fig. 4.
The female is much less beautiful. The bill is of a lighter brown above, brownish-white beneath, with the edges and tip of the lower mandible light brown; the feet and claws wood-brown. The upper parts are wood-brown, the head darker, with three longitudinal bands of brownish-white; a band of reddish-white across the hind neck, the feathers of the back margined with whitish; the wings marked as in the male, but with brownish-white; the tail without white spots. The lower parts are of a much paler tint than those of the male; the axillars and lower wing-coverts yellow.
Length to end of tail 8 1/4 inches; bill along the ridge 9/12; tarsus 11/12; middle toe and claw 1 3/12.
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.