496. 
530 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — RAPTORES — ACCIPITRES. 
of pale brown. ‘Three or four eggs are th@™sual nest-complement; in the Northern and 
Middle States they are laid in May. 
AS'TUR. (Lat. astwr, a hawk.) GosnHawxs. Characters in general as above given for 
Accipiter; size superior, and organization more robust; feet stronger, the tarsus feathered 
about + way down in front and on the sides, leaving only a narrow bare strip behind; the 
scutellation 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, though closely related. 
A. atricapil/lus. (Lat. atricapilius, black-haired. Fig. 371.) AMpRICAN GOSHAWK. BLUE 
Hen Hawk (adult). CHickKeEN HAwk (young). Adult ¢ 9: Above, dark bluish-slate color, 
each feather black-shafted; top of head blackish, conspicuously different from other upper 
parts, the feathers there with fleecy 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 with slaty-brown, except on throat 
and erissum, and everywhere sharply pencilled with blackish shaft-lines, one on each feather. 
The barring is largest and most regular on the belly, flanks, and tibiee, 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. palum- 
barius 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-quills 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 of 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 
Fig, 372. — Prairie Falcon, 3 nat. size. (From life, by H. W. Elliott.) dark brown markings. Tail 
more distinctly barred than in the adult, and with white tip. 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 
f 20.00-22.00; extent about 42.00; wing 12.00-18.00; tail 9.00-10.00; tarsus 2.75 ; middie 
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 handsome hawk, of splendid spirit, the terror of the poultry-yard. A larger, 
brighter, and altogether better bird than the European. It inhabits northern N. Am.; the 
northern half of the U. 8. chiefly in winter, but is also resident in some parts, and breeds 
in 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 supe- 
