BIRDS — ACCIPITEINAE — ASTUR ATRICAPILLUS. 15 



Sub-Family ACCIPITRINAE. 



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, Lacbpede, Mem. Inst. Ill, p. 506. 

 The largest birds of this suh-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 genus contains about twelve species of all countries. 



ASTUR ATRICAPILLUS, Wilson. 



The Goshawk. 



Faleo atricapiUus, Wilson, Am. Orn. VI. 60. (1812.) 

 Falco regalis, Tkmm. pi. col. 1. (liv. 84, about 1827.) 

 Dmdalion pictum, Lesson, Traite d'Orn. I, 67. (1831.) 

 Figures. — Wilson Am. Orn. VI, pi. 52, fig. 3 ; Rich, and Sw. Faun. Bor. Am. Birds, pi. 26 ; Jard. and Selby, III. Orn. 

 pi. 121 ; Aud. B. of Am. pi. 141, Oct. ed. I, pi. 23 ; Temm. pi. col. 495. 



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 slate color, with the shafts of the feathers black, and frequently with the feathers narrowly 

 edged with black, presenting a squainate or scale-like appearance. A conspicuous stripe over the eye, and an obscure and 

 partially concealed occipital and nuchal band, white. Entire under parts mottled with white and light ashy brown. Every 

 feather with a longitudinal line of dark brown on its shaft, and with numerous irregular and imperfect transverse lines or 

 narrow stripes of light ashy brown, more distinct and regular on the abdomen and tibiae. Quills brown, with bands of a deeper 

 hade of the same color, and of ashy white on their inner webs . Tail same color as other upper parts ; under surface very pale 

 nearly white, an having about four obscure bands of a deeper shade of ashy brown, and narrowly tipped with white ; under tail 

 covert white. 



Young. — Entire upper parts, including head, dark brown, with the feathers, especially on the head and neck, behind, edged 

 and spotted with light reddish, or nearly white. Tail light ashy, with about five wide and conspicuous bands of ashy brown 

 and narrowly tipped with ashy white ; quills brown, with wide bars of a darker shade of the same color, and wide bands of 

 ^eddish white on their inner webs. Under parts white, genearlly tinged with yellowish and frequently with reddish, every 

 feather with a longitudinal stripe, terminating in an ovate spot of brown. Sides and tibise frequently with circular and lanceolate 

 spots, and irregular bands of the same color, the latter (tibise) generally very conspicuously marked in this manner. Lfnder 

 tail coverts white, with a few large lanceolate spots of brown . 



Total length, female, 22 to 24 inches, wing about 14, tail 10^ to 11 inches. Male, about 20 inches, wing 12J, tail 9' inches. 



Hab. IN^orth America, chiefly in the northwestern portions. 



All the specimens of this fine species in the collections of the expeditions are from Oregon 

 and Washington Territory, and are of both adults and young birds. It is apparently more 

 abundant in northwestern America than it is known to be in any other portion of the United 

 States. 



The adult of this species is well known, and is represented in all the plates cited above. It 

 is one of the most strongly marked and easily recognized of American hawks. 



Though confounded with the European goshawk {Astur paliimharius) by Audubon, the 

 present species is strongly marked, and easily distinguished. The transverse bands on the 



