AMERICAN GOSHAWK. 323 



then dashes suddenly upon it, turning and twisting with great 

 agility, but does not stoop with the skill of the Peregrine or other 

 falcons. Mammals so large as hares, and birds of the size 

 of Wild Duck and Partridge, are killed by this powerful hunter ; 

 it is not popular with the gamekeeper. 



The adult bird is ashy brown on the upper parts, and its tail 

 is boldly banded with dark brown, and tipped with white. 

 The under parts are barred black and white. The bill is bluish 

 black, the cere, legs and irides yellow. The immature bird is 

 brown above, with pale margins, and the tail is banded with 

 dark grey ; the under parts are buff, spotted and striated with 

 dark brown. The irides are bluish white. Male : Length, 

 20 ins. Wing, 12 ins. Tarsus, 3"i ins. Female : Length, 

 23 ins. Wing, 14 ins. 



American Goshawk. As fur atrkapilhcs (Wilson). 



The editors of the *' Hand-List" consider that the Goshawks 

 and Sparrow-Hawks " cannot be separated generically," and 

 that gentilis is the correct specific name. The American 

 Goshawk breeds in northern Canada and the States and 

 migrates south in winter, and three examples were recorded 

 as having occurred in Ireland and Scotland in 1869 and 1870. 

 These were rejected as unsatisfactory by both the B.O.U. 

 Committee and the editors of the " Hand-List," but a bird shot 

 in CO. Tyrone in February, 19 19, examined by Mr. Witherby 

 and Dr. Hartert, is by them accepted as a genuine visitor 

 {British Birds, XIII., 3, 31), and possibly the other three may 

 have reached us unaided. Under the name Accipiter gentilis 

 atricapilhis (Wilson) the bird is added to the British list, with 

 the statement that it differs from A. g. gentilis (Linn.) in the 

 greater width of the shaft-lines on the feathers of the under 

 parts, '• while the cross-bars are more ashy grey and broken up 



