Accipiters, buteos and the rest

Accipiters

The short wings are the specialists of close cover. Cooper's Hawks are best suited to quail, and are most commonly hunted from the fist. Male Sharp-shinned Hawks, tiny birds, are suited to English sparrows. A Goshawk nest is most likely found in a coniferous forest, not in suburban woodlots, woodland edges or on cliffs. Goshawks are helped in upland game by both a dog and a good flush, and a pheasant is most likely taken by a goshawk on a reflush, not on the first rise.

Harris's Hawk

Parabuteo unicinctus: black, raven-sized, with a white band at the base of the tail and chestnut upper shoulders. The single thing that sets it apart in falconry is that Harris's Hawks may be hunted in groups, which no other common falconry species does. They are not difficult to man and they are not a good arctic hare bird. They are notably less cold-tolerant than a red-tail.

Other buteos and the harrier

A Ferruginous Hawk tends to be larger than a Red-tailed Hawk. It is a Buteo, not a Parabuteo, and it will defend its nest. The Northern Harrier appears in this section as a distractor, and appears in the regulations section for a reason worth remembering now: it is listed as threatened in New York and may not be possessed for falconry by anyone, including a Master.

Merlins

The Merlin travels the longest migration of the falconry species listed, further than a Prairie Falcon, Goshawk or Gyrfalcon, and it is the raptor most likely to take prey in a ringing flight, climbing after quarry in spirals.

Haggards, again

A wild haggard falcon represents wild breeding stock and is considered harder to train than a passager, both. Haggards are more proficient hunters than passagers, having more experience, but that is separate from trainability, and it is illegal and unethical to remove adults from the wild for falconry.