_Accipiter_ (_Æsalon_) _carolinensis_, BRISS. Orn. I, 385, 1760.
_Accipiter minor_, CATESB. Carol. I, 5, 1754. _Falco sparverius_,
LINN. Syst. Nat. p. 128, 1766.—PENN, Arct. Zoöl. pp. 211, 212.—GMEL.
Syst. Nat. p. 284.—LATH. Ind. Orn. p. 42; Synop. I, 110, sp. 94;
Gen. Hist. I, 290.—DAUD. Tr. Orn. II, 142, pl. xii.—SHAW, Zoöl. VII,
pl. xxvi.—WILS. Am. Orn. pl. xvi, f. 1, pl. xxxii, f. 2.—JAMES.
(WILS.) Am. Orn. I, 56, 60.—LESS. Tr. Orn. p. 95.—BENN. gard. Zoöl.
Soc. II, 121.—STEPH. XIII, ii, 38.—CUV. Reg. Anim. (ed. 2), I,
322.—JARD. (WILS.) Am. Orn. I, 262; II, 51.—RICH. & SWAINS. F. B. A.
pl. xxiv.—WAGL. Isis, 1831, 517.—BONAP. Ann. Lyc. N. Y. II, 27; Isis,
1832, 1136.—VIEILL. Enc. Méth. III, 1234 (in part).—AUD. Birds Am.
pl. cxlii; Orn. Biog. II, 246, pl. cxlii.—BREW. (WILS.) Synop. p.
684; Am. Oölogy, p. 16, pl. xi, figs. 13 and 15 _a_.—DE KAY, Zoöl.
N. Y. II, 16, pl. vii. f. 16.—PEAB. Birds Mass. III, 69.—NUTT. Man.
I, 58. _Tinnunculus sparverius_, VIEILL. Ois. Am. Sept. pls. xii,
xiii.—BRIDG. Proc. Zoöl. Soc. pt. xi, 109.—GRAY, Gen. B. fol. sp.
10; List Brit. B. Mus. p. 60.—WOODH. Sitgr. Exp. Zuñi & Colorad. p.
60.—CASS. Proc. Ac. Nat. Sc. Phil. 1855, 278.—Birds Cal. & Tex. p. 92;
Birds N. Am. 1858, 13.—RIDGW. P. A. N. S. 1870, 148.—STRICKL. Orn.
Syn. I, 99, 1855. _Cerchneis sparverius_, BONAP. List Eur. & N. Am.
B. p. 5, 1838. _Pœcilornis sparverius_, KAUP, Monog. Falc. Cont. Orn.
1850, 53. _Tinnunculus phalœna_, LESSON, Mam. et d’Ois. 1847, 178 (San
Blas & Acapulco).
SP. CHAR. _Adult male_ (12,025, Washington, D. C.; W. Wallace).
Forehead, lateral and posterior, regions of the vertex, occiput, and
wings, bluish-ash. Vertex, nape, scapulars, interscapulars, rump, upper
tail-coverts, and tail, fine cinnamon-rufous; scapulars and back barred
with black, the bars broadest and most conspicuous posteriorly. Tail
tipped with white, and with a broad sharply defined subterminal zone
of black, about one inch in width; lateral feather, with outer web and
terminal half of inner, ashy-white, the latter with one or two distinct
transverse spots anterior to the subterminal one. Wing-coverts with more
or less conspicuous cordate spots of black, rather sparsely distributed;
basal two-thirds of secondaries and whole of primaries deep black; the
latter whitish around the terminal margin and with nine transverse bands
of white on inner web of longest (second), the white rather exceeding
the black, the points of which do not reach the edge of the feather;
lining of the wing white with conspicuous cordate spots of black. Front
and superciliary region more hoary than the forehead, almost approaching
white. Whole lateral region of the head, with chin, throat, and lower
parts, white; the neck, breast, and sides, however, with a deep tinge
of ochraceous, the tint hardly approaching the depth of color seen on
the nape. On the head there are (considering both sides) seven black
spots; the first originating in front of the bare anteorbital space
(leaving the lores white), and extending in a stripe downward across the
maxillæ, forming a conspicuous “mustache”; the second crosses the tips
of the ear-coverts, in form of an oblong transverse spot; the third is
smaller, situated as far behind the last as this, and is posterior to
the “mustache,” crossing the side of the neck; the last is an odd nuchal
spot separating the ash of the occiput from the rufous of the nape.
Breast and sides with circular or cordate spots of pure black; these
varying in size, but generally larger on the sides. Other lower parts
immaculate. Wing-formula, 2=3–4, 1. Wing, 7.10; tail, 4.50; tarsus,
1.32; middle toe, .98; culmen, .45.
_Adult female_ (10,751, Fort Bridger, Utah; C. Drexler). Blue above
confined to the head, which shows the rufous patch as in the male;
entire upper parts rufous, lighter and less purplish than in the male,
everywhere barred with black. Tail with twelve sharply defined narrow
bars of black; the subterminal broadest, and about three eighths of an
inch in width. Longest primary with eleven transverse spaces of pale
rufous, nearly twice as wide as the dusky ones, which scarcely touch the
edge. Beneath yellowish-white, paler than in the male, breast and sides
with rusty longitudinal spots. Head as in the male. Wing, 7.60; tail,
5.20; tarsus, 1.50; middle toe, .90; bill, .50. Wing-formula, 2=3–4–1.
_Young male_ (5,581, Medicine Bow Creek, Nebraska, August 7, 1856;
W. S. Wood). Exactly like the adult male, but with the rufous darker,
approaching to chestnut; spots beneath inclining to a tear-shaped form,
and, though more numerous, are not so well defined as in the adult; also
rufescent tinge beneath more general; blue of the wings with scarcely
any spots; white terminal band of tail tinged with rufous. Sometimes the
two or three outer feathers are clouded with ash, and possess indication
of bars, formed of irregular black spots.
_Young female_ (40,520, Fort Rice, Dacota; S. M. Rothhammer). Generally
like the adult, but with rufous above darker, approaching ferruginous;
the bars everywhere broader, and purer black; rufous vertical patch
streaked centrally with black; spots beneath larger, darker, approaching
reddish umber.
HAB. Continental North America (only), across to both coasts, and from
Arctic regions to Isthmus of Panama; not in West Indies.
This form ranges over the whole of continental North America, from
Panama northward into the British Provinces, and from the Atlantic
to the Pacific. Throughout the whole of this extensive area the
bird exhibits very little variation, in fact, none not of an almost
individual character, consisting mainly in the varying amount of
ashy-white and black on the lateral tail-feather, and also, to a
less extent, in the depth of the ochraceous tint on the breast, and
the abundance and size of the black spots on the sides or flanks. In
the Gulf region of the United States it passes gradually into var.
_isabellinus_ through intermediate specimens. We have seen Florida skins
(kindly lent to us by Mr. J. A. Allen) from Miami (♂, January 29, 1872),
Cedar Keys (♂, February 28, 1871), and Florida Keys (♂, February 14,
1871). Of these, only the first (No. 14,491) deviates noticeably from
the typical style; it inclines toward var. _isabellinus_ in sparsity
of black spots on flanks and restricted rufous on the crown, but in
the pure light ash of the crown and wings, and faint ochraceous of the
breast, it resembles more the var. _sparverius_. Wing, 6.50; tail, 4.70.
The two other specimens measure as follows: No. 14,487, Florida Keys,
wing, 6.90; tail, 5.00. No. 14,492, Cedar Keys, wing, 6.90; tail, 5.00.
The former is peculiar in having some of the upper tail-coverts either
partly or entirely ashy.
Mexican specimens represent the race in the greatest purity or
exaggeration of its characteristic features, in pure and light
bluish-ash of wings and crown, greatest extent of rufous on crown, etc.
California specimens often exhibit what I have not noticed in eastern
examples, though possibly occurring in them; that is, in adult males the
cere and feet are of a deep orange-red—almost vermilion color.