ASTUR. 45 
viz. Astur and Accipiter, and they are those which chiefly concern us. But to them we 
add, with considerable doubt, the genus Geranospizias. 
The Accipitrine generally feed chiefly on other birds and mammals, which they 
capture and devour fresh, never feeding on carrion or refuse. 
ASTUR. 
Astur, Lacépéde, Mém. de ’Inst. iii. p. 506 (1801) ; Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. i. p. 92. 
The only species of true Astur which is found within our area is A. atricapillus of 
North America, a near ally of the Old-World A. palumbarius, the two birds occupying 
between them most of the temperate and subarctic regions of the northern hemisphere. 
The other members of the genus, which are very numerous, some forty species having 
been described, are denizens of more tropical countries and abound in the islands of the 
Eastern Archipelago, New Guinea, &c., several also occurring in tropical Africa. 
Astur has of late years been merged with Accipiter by American writers ; but, apart 
from the difference of size, it may be distinguished by the stouter tarsi covered with 
short scutella, and by the shorter and stouter toes, the length of the middle toes of the 
two forms being in especially strong contrast. 
—1. Astur atricapillus. 
Faico atricapillus, Wils. Am. Orn. vi. p. 80, t. 52. £.3*; Wagl. Isis, 1831, p. 517°. 
Astur atricapillus, Bp., Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. i. p. 97°; Coues, Birds of the N.-West, 
p. 3384, 
Accipiter atricapillus, Fisher, Bull. U.S. Dep. Agr. no. 3, p. 43, t. 6°. 
Astur palumbarius, var. atricapillus, Ridgw. in Baird, Brew., & Ridgw. N. Am. Birds, iii. p. 237°. 
Astur palumbarius, var. striatulus, Ridgw. in Baird, Brew., & Ridgw. N. Am. Birds, iii. p. 2407. 
Accipiter atricapillus striatulus, Ridgw. Pr. U.S. Nat. Mus. vill. p. 355°; Bendire, Life Hist. 
N. Am. Birds, 1. p. 199, t. 6. f. 2°. 
Supra czrulescenti-cinereus, pileo toto nigricante, plumis omnibus ad basin albis; loris et superciliis albis, 
nigricante variegatis: subtus griseo-albus, undique griseo transversim irroratus ; rachidibus plumarum 
omnibus nigris in pectore latioribus ; remigibus nigricantibus, fasciis griseo variegatis ; subalaribus albis, 
griseo frequenter transfasciatis ; cauda griseo-fusca, fasciis pallidioribus variegatis transfasciata: rostro 
nigricante, cera et pedibus flavis. Long. tota circa 20-0, alee 13-5, caude 10:0, tarsi 3-0. (Deser. maris 
ex Sonora, Mexico. Mus. nostr.) 
Juv. Supra nigricanti-fuscus, plumis omnibus fulvo limbatis: subtus cervino-albus, plumis omnibus medialiter 
fuscis; cauda nigricanti-fusca, apice albicante, fasciis griseis quatuor notata. (Descr. feminze juv. ex 
Sierra de Nayarit, Jalisco, Mexico. Mus. nostr.) 
Hab. Nortu America generally °".—Muxico (Wagler?), Yecera in Sonora (W. Lloyd), 
Sierra de Nayarit, 8000 feet (W. B. Richardson). 
The American Goshawk has been divided into two races, now called Accipiter 
atricapillus and A. a. striatulus’®, the latter being the western form. We have 
examined a fair series of both birds in the British Museum, but fail to appreciate 
