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ACCIPITER PALUMBARIUS. 



THE GOSS HAWK. 



The upper parts of the male deep bluish-grey, tinged 

 with brown, the crown of the head and the ear-coverts 

 brownish-black ; feathers of the nape white, tipped with 

 black ; the lower parts white, transversely barred with 

 blackish-grey, the shafts black; length about twenty 

 inches. Of the female the upper parts hair-brown, 

 tinged with grey, the colouring in other respects simi- 

 lar ; length about twenty-five inches. 



Male. — The Goss Hawk is one of the most beautiful 

 of our bii'ds of prey. In elegance of form it is not ex- 

 celled by any, and in colouring it is superior to most. 

 Its body is moderately robust, but not heavy ; its neck 

 rather short and strong; its head of moderate size, 

 rounded, and flattened above ; its wings of ordinary 

 length, or, compared with those of other species, short ; 

 its tail long, ample, and possessed of great mobility. 

 The bill is short, but strong, of nearly equal breadth 

 and depth at the base ; its dorsal line nearly straiglit 

 and slightly sloping as far as the edge of the cere, then 

 curved into the fourth of a circle, its sides sloping and 

 slightly convex, its edges anteriorly sharp, with a broad 

 process or festoon beyond the middle ; its tip very 

 acute, and at its extremity perpendicular. The cere is 

 rather large, its margin forming on each side a convex 



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