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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jim M." data-source="post: 3514726" data-attributes="member: 60675">OK.  I think I can actually settle the issue – we are both right!  I remembered I had a few of these antiquated things from pre-Internet days lying around my house called “dictionaries.”  I tend to think the oldest dictionaries are best, and my oldest American dictionary is from 1950, the unabridged “Webster’s New International Dictionary” 2nd edition.  It defines “hawk” in essentially the sense I have been arguing for:   Any of the diurnal birds of prey belonging to the family Falconidae, excepting the very large species which are known as eagles, and the vultures.  It is thus applied to the falcons, buzzards, harriers, kites, and caracaras…   (Emphasis added). My most recent American dictionary, The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 3rd edition (1996), indicates a new usage has developed:   1.  Any of various birds of prey of the order Falconiformes and especially of the genera Accipiter and Buteo, characteristically having a short, hooked bill and strong clause adapted for seizing.  2.  Any of various similar birds of prey.   So the way I read this is that there is a usage developing in which “hawk” is properly restricted to Accipiters and Buteos, but there remains an accepted usage in which it can be applied more broadly.  So I think this shows that I am correct in that the original poster was using the term “hawk” correctly, but there is also another sense of “hawk” in which he was using it inappropriately.  In any event, I hope those who have read through this find it at least mildly interesting.</blockquote>

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