About the Library

American Sparrow Hawk, plate CXLII

The American sparrow hawk, known today as the American kestrel, is the most common American falcon. This bird is also the smallest falcon, at roughly the size of a mourning dove. Its Latin name, Falco sparverius, means “falcon of the sparrows,” a reference to how it occasionally preys on small passerines (perching birds).

John James Audubon painted this watercolour in 1836. The plate depicts the feeding behaviour of the American sparrow hawk and features the bird’s favoured prey. Perched in a white walnut tree, a male is about to pounce on a grasshopper (lower right quadrant), while a female is ready to devour a small bird (upper right quadrant).

Audubon expressed admiration for this bird, remarking that there are “few more beautiful Hawks in the United States than this active little species, and I am sure, none half so abundant.” He claimed that in the southern states in the winter, sparrow hawks could be seen in “about every old field, orchard, barn-yard, or kitchen-garden.”

When the male and female of the same species differ in appearance, it is called sexual dimorphism. For most raptors, dimorphism is expressed in size: females tend to be bigger than males. In the American kestrel, females are up to 15% larger than males. But this species displays a form of dimorphism that is much rarer in raptors: the two sexes can be distinguished by their plumage. A male’s wings and crown are blue-grey, while a female’s are reddish-brown with several black bars. As Audubon’s plate shows, both sexes have two bold, vertical streaks across their faces.

This species can survive in different environments and habitats throughout the Americas. Ornithologists have identified 17 subspecies.

Details

• This is plate CXLII (or 142) in the collection.
• This medium-sized portrait measures 65.2 cm high and 52.5 wide. It is printed on paper measuring 97.2 cm high and 64.7 cm wide.
• It was engraved, printed and coloured by Robert Havell in 1836.
• The plate is part of set number 29.
• The caption states the scientific name for the American sparrow hawk (now the American kestrel), Falco sparverius, according to the Linnaean system of taxonomy (naming) of species. The bird at the top (2) is a female and the two birds at the bottom (1) are males. The birds are perched in a butternut tree, also called a white walnut tree, with the Latin name Juglans cinerea.