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A Study of the Sparrow Hawks (Subgenus Tinnunculus) of America, with Especial Reference to the Continental Species (Falco sparverius Linn.)

1892; Oxford University Press; Volume: 9; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.2307/4067777

1938-4254

Edgar Alexander Mearns,

Rangeland and Wildlife Management

This subgenus has its centre of development in the tropical portion of America, two of the threef known American spe¬ cies being peculiar to the West Indian region, the third, Falco ( Tinnunculus) sparverius , extending from the equator south¬ ward to the extremity of the Southern American continent, and northward to Hudson's Bay and Alaska, extreme points in its longitudinal dispersion being Unalaska and Pernambuco.These species may he recognized by the 4 following: Synopsis of the American Species.A. Species having a single color phase-not dichromatic.Front and auriculars distinctly whitish; back always entirely rufous, with or without black bars or spots; with no conspicuous superciliary stripe of white; under surface of wing with the quills (usually) barred entirely across with black and white.a. Vertex with or without a patch of rufous; tail of male with a single subterminal zone of black; rump and anterior portion of back immacu¬ late; spots of under surface small and rather sparse.i. Falco sparverius.Male-.Top of head varying from light bluish ash to blackish slate, usually without conspicuously darker shaft streaks, particularly on the rusty crown patch, when present; wings bluish ash, with a few small black spots.Fejnale: Black bars of tail narrower than the fulvous rufous interspaces; spots of under surface reddish brown, tending to form longitudinal streaks.Habitat .-Whole of North and South America, straggling to the West Indies.* The Sparrow Hawks of America are wholly different from the bird which bears the same name in Europe.The latter belongs to the genus Accipiter (the same that includes our Cooper's and Sharp-shinned Hawks), while the American Spar¬ row Hawks belong to the subgenus Tinnunculus of Falco in which are included the Kestrel, Red-footed Falcon, Lesser Kestrel, and other Old World species.t I have here adopted Mr. Ridgway's recent views (see 'The Auk,'Vol.VIII, Janu¬ ary, 1891, p. 113) in uniting Falco do/ninicensis Gmel.and F. sparverioides Vig.,of the West Indies, as dichromatic phases of a single species, the material at my command being insufficient to enable me to decide the question independently.