326 HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS 



AMERICAN GOSHAWK. Astur atricapillus (Wilson). 

 Length, 20-5 in. ; bill, 1-4 in. ; wing, 12-9 in.; tarsus, 

 2-9 in. 



Hab. North America; rarer in the Southern States; 

 of accidental occurrence in Europe. 



One, Schehallion, Perthshire, spring 1869 : R. Gray, Ibis, 

 1870, p. 292. 



One, Ballinacourte, co. Tipperary, Feb. 1870 : Sir Victor 

 Brooke, Ibis, 1870, p. 538. In Museum of Science and 

 Art, Dublin. 



One near Parsons Town, King's County, shortly after- 

 wards : A. B. Brooke, Zool, 1871, p. 2524. 



BLACK KITE. Milvus migrans (Boddaert^). Length, 

 22 in. ; bill, 1*5 in. ; wing, 18 in. ; tarsus, 2-25 in. 



Hab. Europe, excepting Norway, Sweden, and Finland ; 

 Siberia ; Palestine ; Sinai ; Africa ; Madagascar. 



One, Alnwick, Northumberland, May 11, 1866: Hancock, 

 Ibis, 1867, p. 253 ; Gurney, Zool, 1869, p. 1598. 



Obs. Sir Robert Sibbald, in his " Scotia Illus- 

 trata," 1684, mentions "a black Gled" as formerly 

 inhabiting Scotland. In Don's " Fauna of Forfar- 

 shire " (1813) also allusion is made (p. 39) to '' Falco 

 ater," found " on heaths and low hills." But this 

 may have been with greater probability the dark 

 variety of Montagu's Harrier. 



1 Falco migrans, Boddaert, Table PI. Enl. p. 28 (1783). Falco ater, 

 Gmelin, Syst. Nat., p. 262 (1788). 



