530 



SYSTEM A TIC SYNOPSIS. — RAPTORES— A CCIPITRES. 



of pale brown. Three or four eggs are the usual nest-compleinent ; in the Northern and 

 Middle States they are laid in May. 

 177. AS'TUR. (Lat. astur, a hawli.) Goshawks. Characters in general as above given for 

 Accipiter; size superior, and organization more robust; feet stronger, the tarsus feathered 

 about i way down in front and on the sides, leaving only a naiTow bare strip behind ; the 

 ecutellatioii discontinuous at the bases of the toes, which are finely reticulate; ; resumed beyond ; 

 never fused. These " goose-hawks " or " star-hawks" are a small genus of five or six " ignoble " 

 species, held in high estimation by falconers for their prowess in the chase. Ours appears to 

 be quite distinct from A. palumbarius, tbough closely related. 

 496. A. atricapil'lus. (Lat. atricapillus, black-haired. Fig. 371.) American Goshawk. Blub 

 Hen Hawk (adult). Chicken Haw^k (young). Adult <J 9 '■ Above, dark bluish-slate color, 

 each feather black-shafted ; top of head blackish, conspicuously different fi-om other upper 

 parts, the feathers there with tiieecy white bases ; a long white superciliary or rather post- 

 ocular stripe; auriculars blackish. Ground color of under parts, including lining of wings, 

 white, closely barred or vermiculated in narrow zigzag lines ^A-ith slaty-brown, except on throat 

 and crissum, and everywhere shai-ply pencilled with blackish shaft-lines, one on each feather. 

 The barring is largest and most regular on the belly, flanks, and tibias, but is for the most part 

 much dissipated in a fine mottling. It varies greatly in coarseness in different specimens, some 



of which approach A. imlum- 

 harius in this respect. Tail 

 like back, banded with four 

 or five blackish bars, the ter- 

 minal one much the broadest. 

 Bill dark bluish ; iris yellow- 

 ish ; feet yellow, claws black. 

 Wing-quiUs in similar pat- 

 tern, and both these and the 

 tail showing tendency to some 

 whitish mottling of inner webs 

 of the feathers. Young : The 

 difference is substantially as 

 in species oi Accipiter : above,, 

 dark brown, varied with rusty- 

 brown and whitish ; below, 

 white, more or less tawny- 

 tinged, with oblong, lance- 

 linear, clubbed or drop-shaped 

 dark brown markings. Tail 

 But in any equivocal plumage, 

 the goshawk may be recognized by its size, which is that of an average Buteo, together with 

 the short rounded wings, very long fan-shaped tail, and other generic characters. Length of 

 $ 20.0U-22.00; extent about 42.0J; wing 12.00-13.00 ; tail 9.00-10.00 ; tarsus 2.75 ; middle 

 toe without claw 1.75; chord of culmen without cere 0.90; 9, length 22.00-24.00; extent 

 45.00 or more; wing 13.00-14.00; tail 11.50-12.50. A large, powerful, and when in perfect 

 plumage, a very haudsome hawk, of splendid spirit, the terror of the poultry-yard. A larger, 

 brighter, and altogether better bu'd than the European. It inhabits northern N. Am. ; the 

 northern half of the U. S. chiefly in winter, but is also resident in some parts, and breeds 

 m mountainous regions as far south at least as Colorado, where I have seen it in summer, 

 its ordinary quarry is grouse, ptarmigan, and hares. The nesting and the eggs, as described^ 

 are most like those of Accipiter cooperi ; the eggs, probably only distinguishable by their su})e- 



Fig. 372. — Prairie Falcon, § nat size. (From life, by H. W. Elliott.) 

 more distinctly barred than in the adult, and with white tip 



