Luann Collies, age ll, of Indianapolis, Ind., for her question:
What kind of bird is the accipiter?
The chicken is a galliforme and so is the prancing peacock. The cuckoo is a cuculiforme and so is the rangy road runner. The penguin is a sphenisciforme and the ostrich is a struthioniforme. The hawk is a falconiforme of the genus accipiter.
There are about a million different birds in the world, and scientists have sorted them into large groups called orders. An order is named for a typical bird of the group. The galliformes order waswamed for the chicken, whose Latin name is gallus. The galliforme types are ground dwelling birds who scratch and peck for a living. The falconiforme birds take the name of their order from the falcon.
The orders are subdivided into smaller family and subfamily groups. These smaller groups are subdivided again into genera, which is the plural of genus. The accipiter genus is part of the large falconiforme order of birds and it is named for the hawk. And, like the hawk, all the accipiters are fierce birds of prey. The genus includes the goshawk and the cooper hawk, the European sparrow hawk and the harriers.
The biggest accipiter is the goshawk, or gosling hawk. The handsome fellow is 20 inches long and his wings spread almost four feet wide. His downy plumage is speCkled with gray and black, and he glares at the world through eYes of flaming red. Our goshawk is a hunter of the evergreen forests. He plunges down on silent wings to Geize a rabbit in his talons and sometimes he raids chicken coops.
The cooper hawk is a smaller accipiter of blue gray with bands of red. On the wing he is a speedster, and farmers call him the Blue Darter. He likes to dine on other birds, and like the goshawk he often becomes a menace to the chickens.
The sparrow hawk of Europe is not a native American. This Old World accipiter is famous for his foolhardy courage. He is always ready to attack any creature in the air and never hesitates to tear into eagles and other birds much bigger than himself. Around the world there are 205 different accipiter birds and among them are assorted kites and buzzards, hawks and harriers.
Most accipiters are smart birds and very devoted to their children. They use sticks to build their sturdy nests and then line them with soft shreds of bark. Few enemies dare to attack their homes. Certain accipiters gained fame during the days of chivalry when knights went hunting with their falcons. The goshawk and the Old World sparrow hawk were smart enough and spry enough to be trained to hunt with the knights of old.