Object Status:
Extant
Accession Date:
By 1793
Primary Source Reference:
Charles Willson Peale, letter to Thomas Hall of Moorfields, London, dated 1793; Selected Papers, 2, part 1: 46.
Additional Source Text:
Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827) sent, in early 1793, specimens of American "sparrow Hawks" (i.e., Peale's name for Accipiter nisus) to Thomas Hall in London, in exchange for European specimens (Miller 1988: 46, Selected Papers, Vol. 2, Part 2, Yale University Press).
Peale described a specimen in his 13th Lecture (ca. 1799) that was either this species or the morphologically similar Cooper's Hawk A. cooperii: "No. 34. This beautiful little Hawk, I believe is a nondescript. Lead coloured back and top of the head; the throat of cream colour, shading into faint russet on the under part of the body, which is streaked with traverse rays of white; the tail of lead colour, with 3 broad bars of dark brown, the extremity light; eyes red; and feet yellow. It was taken on the Island of New York." (Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University Archives, coll. 40)
Alexander Wilson (1766-1813) described this species under the name "Sharp-shinned Hawk / Falco velox" in American Ornithology vol. 5 (Pl. 45), based on two immature specimens. He did not cite Peale's Museum (Wilson 1812: 116). / https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/175520#page/136/mode/1up (text) / https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/175520#page/137/mode/1up (plate)
Wilson (1812: 13) described an adult male as a different species, under the name "Slate-colored Hawk / Falco pennsylvanicus", in American Ornithology vol. 6 (Pl. 46). No citation to Peale's Museum was given. / https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/175484#page/27/mode/1up (text) / https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/175484#page/8/mode/1up (plate)
Notes:
Recent phylogenetic research has shown that the Sharp-shinned Hawk population on Hispaniola, where the holotype of Accipiter striatus was collected, is specifically distinct from the migratory population that occurs in Pennsylvania. Therefore, Wilson's name A. velox has taxonomic priority for the migratory species. For details, see Therese A. Catanach et al., 2021, "Systematics and conservation of an endemic radiation of Accipiter hawks in the Caribbean islands", Ornithology 138: 1-23. / https://doi.org/10.1093/ornithology/ukab041
Specimen Type:
Dead/preserved
Current Common Name:
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Current Scientific Name
Accipitridae | Accipiter striatus
