22 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 



Calais, Me., and Williamstown, Mass., are before me. I am 

 inclined to think, from what I can learn from collectors and 

 others, that four is the usual number laid by this bird, — 

 probably seldom more. Their ground-color varies from a 

 deep cream or yellowish-buff to a pale reddish-white ; this 

 is covered, more or less thickly in different specimens, with 

 spots and confluent blotches of reddish-brown and Van dyke- 

 brown, or chocolate. Their form is nearly spherical, being 

 but very little pointed at either end. Their dimensions 

 vary from 1.40 inch by 1.15 inch to 1.30 inch by 1.13 inch. 

 This species breeds later than most of the other birds 

 of prey, as the eggs which I found in Maine on the 11th of 

 June, 1864, were newly laid. This species usually nests in 

 a hollow tree or a deserted woodpecker's nest. 



Sub-Family Accipitrin^. — The Hawks, 



Form rather long and slender; tail and legs long; wings rather short; bill short, 

 hooked ; upper mandible lobed, but not toothed. Very active and vigilant, and swift 

 of flight ; pursuing their prey, which consists of birds and small quadrupeds, into 

 the woods and forests. 



ASTUR, Lac. 



Astur^ Lacepede, Mem. Inst., III. p. 506. 



The largest birds of this sub-family. General form strong, but rather long and 

 slender ; wing rather short ; tail long and broad ; tarsi long, covered in front with 

 rather wide transverse scales; toes and claws moderate, the latter fully curved, 

 sharp; bill short, curved; nostrils large, ovate, inserted in the cere. This genua 

 contains about twelve species of all countries. 



ASTUR ATRICAPILLUS. — 5o«rtparte. 



The Goshawk. 



J'rtfco afncrt;w7?«s, Wilson. Am. Orn., VI. 80 (1812). 

 Falco regalis, Temm. PI. col. I. (liv. 84, about 1827). 

 Diedalion pictum, Lesson. Traite d'Om., I. 67 (1831). 



Description. 



Adult. — Head above, neck behind, and stripe from behind the eye, black, 

 generally more or less tinged with ashy; other upper parts dark ashy bluish or 

 Biate color, with the shafts of the feathers black, and frequently with the feathers 

 narrowly edged with black, presenting a squamate or scale-like appearance ; a con- 

 spicuous stripe over the eye, and an obscure and partially concealed occipital and 



