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22, ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 
Calais, Me., and Williamstown, Mass., are before me. Iam 
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 Vandyke- 
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 Accreitrinz.— 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 genus 
contains about twelve species of all countries. 
ASTUR ATRICAPILLUS. — Bonaparte. 
The Goshawk, 
Falco atricapillus, Wilson. Am. Orn., VI. 80 (1812). 
Falco regalis, Temm. PI. col. I. (liv. 84, about 1827). 
Dedalion pictum, Lesson. Traite d’Orn., 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 
slate 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 
