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belly are white, with a number of wavy lines or bars of black; the tail is long, of an ash color, and crossed with four or five dusky bars; the legs are yellow, and the claws black; the wings are much shorter than the tail.-It feeds on mice and small birds, and eagerly devours raw flesh; it plucks the birds very neatly, and tears them into pieces before it eats them, but swallows the pieces entire; and frequently disgorges the hair rolled up in small pellets.

The goshawk is found in France and Germany; it is not very numerous in England, but is more frequent in Scotland, where it breeds in lofty trees, and destroys large quantities of game. It is also common in Russia, and Siberia. There is in Chinese Tartary a variety which is mottled with brown and yellow, and is used for sporting by the nobility.

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THIS bird is somewhat larger than a common pigeon, the male being about twelve inches in length, and the female fifteen. It has a short hooked blue bill, with yellow cere, slender reddish legs, and rather a long tail. The color of the eye is a bright orange. The plumage on the wings and upper parts of the body is brown, spotted with yellowish dun; the lower parts in some are whitish; in others of a russet color.

The sparrowhawk is very numerous in various parts of the world, from Russia to the Cape of Good Hope. The female builds in high rocks, lofty ruins, or hollow trees, but will sometimes condescend to take up with the old nest of a crow. Four or five is the number of eggs which she lays, and they are marked with reddish spots at the longer end. The sparrowhawk is more easily trained and made docile than most of the rapacious tribes, and when domesticated it is susceptible of great attachment to its owner. In its wild state it commits enormous havoc among the smaller race of birds, and it is an object of particular dislike to the farmer, as it sometimes makes destructive visits to the poultry yard, and is so daring that it is not to be intimidated from the pursuit of its prey even by the presence of mankind.

1 Falco nisus, LIN.

Of the buzzard, kite, and falcon kind, above seventy different species, foreign and domestic, have been enumerated. Of all these the nature and properties are nearly the same, and the description we have given of the jer-falcon, will apply to most of the hawk species, only differing in size and other minuter particulars; and that of the buzzard to the kites in general, with the same allowance. Of the foreign birds of these species, some are crested, and others.have plumage differing from those of Europe.

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Is a constant resident in almost every part of the United States, particularly in the states north of Maryland. The habits and manners of this bird are well known. It flies rather irregularly. It perches on the top of a dead tree or pole in the middle of a field; and sits there 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 and lizards, &c. It approaches the farmhouse 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 at random, but always with a particular and generally a fatal aim.

Though small snakes, mice, and lizards, be favorite 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 in good eating order, is sometimes rejected. A very respectable friend informs me, says Wilson, that one morning he observed

1 Falco sparverius, LIN.

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."

Many writers have spoken of this bird as inhabiting the West India islands, and especially Hispaniola, whence the species has been commonly known by the name of Saint Domingo hawks. Cayenne is given as its habitat by Brisson and Buffon; Paraguay, by D'Azara; and the Straits of Magellan, by Captain King. In the United States it usually builds in a hollow tree, and generally at a considerable distance from the ground, but in the south it is said to be more sociable, and D'Azara asserts that it will even take up its bode in churches and other old buildings. It lays from two to four or five eggs; and the young when hatched are fed with small birds, grasshoppers, and mice, the usual food of the parent birds.

The note of this bird is so exactly imitated by the blue jay, as to deceive even those acquainted with them both; and, whether through fear or fascination, no sooner does he make his appearance in their neighborhood, than the jays swarm around him and commence insulting him with their imitative cries. In return for this, as might naturally be expected, they fall frequent victims to his appetite.

THE BLACK HAWK 1

Is a native of North America alone. It is a remarkably shy and wary bird, found most frequently along the marshy shores of large rivers; feeds on mice, frogs, and moles; sails much and sometimes at a great height; has been seen to kill a duck on the wing; sits by the side of the marshes on a stake for half an hour at a time, as if dozing; flies with great ease, and occasionally with great swiftness, seldom flapping his wings; is most numerous with us in winter, and but rarely seen in summer; is remarkable for the great size of its eye, length of its wings, and shortness of its toes. The breadth of its head is likewise uncommon. We have no account of its place or manner of breeding.

F. niger, WILSON.

THE PIGEON HAWK1

POSSESSES great spirit and rapidity of flight. He is generally migratory in the middle and northern states, arriving in Pennsylvania early in spring, and extending his migrations as far north as Hudson's Bay. After building, and rearing his young, he returns to the south early in November. Small birds and mice are his principal food. When the reed birds, grakles, and red-winged black birds congregate in large flights, he is often observed following in their rear, picking up the weak, the wounded, or the stragglers; and frequently making a sudden and fatal sweep into the very midst of their multitudes. The flocks of robins and pigeons are honored with the same attentions from this marauder, whose daily excursions are entirely regulated by the movements of the great body, on whose unfortunate members he fattens.

Sometimes, when shot at and not hurt, he will fly in circles over the sportsman's head, shrieking out with great violence, as if highly irritated. He frequently flies low, skimming a little above the field.

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Is a very elegant species, which inhabits the southern districts of the United States in summer. It is very abundant in South Carolina and Georgia, and still more so in West Florida, and the extensive prairies of Ohio and Indiana.

1 F. columbarius, LIN.

2F. furcatus, LIN.

They feed on locusts, and on a species of lizard which is very numerous in that part of the country-and are said also to devour small green snakes. The flight of this bird is easy and graceful, with sometimes occasional sweeps among the trees.

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WHICH is one of the most widely known kinds of hawk in England, is about twenty inches in length, and four feet and a half in breadth, when measured across the expansion of the wings. The lower parts of the body are pale, varied with brown; on the upper parts dusky bars of a darker hue, mark the wings and tail, the latter of which is grayish beneath, and tipped with dusky white. The legs are yellow, the claws black, and the bill leadcolored, short, and hooked.

Though strong and active, the buzzard is so cowardly that he will fly even from the sparrow-hawk, and, when he is overtaken, will allow himself to be beaten, and cast to the ground, without making any resistance. His indolence is equal to his cowardice, as he will sit perched on the same bough during the greatest part of the day. Such is his laziness that he seldom constructs a nest, but contents himself with repairing the old nest of a crow, and lining it with wool and other soft materials. Rats, mice, and often all sorts of carrion, are his articles of subsistence.

It is but fair, however, that justice should be done to the good qualities of the buzzard. He may be tamed; and, in his domestic state, he manifests a very strong attachment to his owner. Buffon has given a highly amusing account of one which was reclaimed from the wild state by the Rector of St Pierre de St Belesme, and which displayed much of the sagacity and affection of a dog. "After having shut it up about six weeks," says he, "I began to allow it a little liberty, taking the precaution, however, to tie both the pinions of its wings. In this condition it walked out in my garden, and

1 Falco buteo, LIN.

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