Page:Ornithological biography, or an account of the habits of the birds of the United States of America, volume 1.djvu/409



beautiful little Hawk appears to be nearly allied to the European Hobby (Falco Subbuteo, .), and is not inferior to that species in spirit and activity. I procured the individual represented, in April 1812, near Fatland Ford in Pennsylvania, whilst in pursuit of a Dove, which it would doubtless have secured, had I not terminated its career. When I first discovered this species, the individual was standing perched on an old fence-stake, in the position in which it is figured. Never having met with another of the kind, I conclude that it is extremely rare in the United States. Of its nest or young I am unable to say any thing at present. The name which I have given to this new and rare species was chosen at the time when was in the zenith of his glory. Every body knows that his soldiers frequently designated him by the nickname of Le Petit Caporal, which I thought more suitable to to our little Hawk, than the names or, which I should have adopted, had I been so fortunate as to procure a new Eagle.

Plate LXXV.

Bill short, as broad as deep at the base, compressed towards the end, the dorsal outline convex from the base; upper mandible cerate, with the edges acute, slightly inflected, and forming a sharp projecting process on each side, the tip trigonal, acute, descending; lower mandible inflected at the edges, with a notch near the end on each side, abrupt at the tip. Nostrils roundish, with a central tubercle, perforated in the cere. Head rather large, neck short, body robust. Legs of ordinary length; tarsus scutellate before and behind; toes scutellate above, scaly on the sides, scabrous and tuberculate beneath; middle toe much longer than the