FALCONS, HAWKS, EAGLES, ETC. 



153 



From Biological Su 



Agriculture. 

 Fig. 224. Goshawk. 



U. S. Dept. of 



12 inches. Adults : under parts with 

 whitish ground uniformly covered with 

 finely penciled gray zigzags, touched up 

 with dark shaft streaks; upper parts 

 dark bluish gray, with black shaft streaks, 

 and becoming black on head ; tail bluish 

 gray, more or less tipped with white and 

 crossed by about four dusky bands, 

 sometimes obsolete on the upper sur- 

 face. Young : upper parts dull brown, 

 head and neck streaked with buffy sal- 

 mon, and rest of upper parts spotted and 

 edged with pale buffy and whitish ; 

 under parts bright buffy, broadly 

 streaked with dark brown. Male : 

 length 22.00, wing 12.00-13.25, tail 9.50- 

 10.50. Female : length 24.50, wing 13.50- 

 14.25, tail 11.50-12.75. 



Distribution. Breeds in northern and 

 eastern North America, chiefly north of 

 the United States but west to eastern 

 parts of Washington and Oregon, and 

 south in the Rocky Mountains as far as 

 central New Mexico. 



Nest. Placed high up in a large 

 tree, generally an evergreen, a bulky compact mass of twigs, lined with 

 soft inner bark, weed stalks, or leaves, surrounded by loosely arranged 

 sticks. Eggs : 2 to 5, pale bluish white, unspotted. 



Food. Rabbits and other rodents, but mainly poultry, ducks, grouse, 

 and smaller birds. 



As the goshawk breeds in the mountains or in the far north it is 

 little in evidence except in winter, but then it comes down into the 

 valleys and even out over the deep snow of the middle prairies. 



Game birds and poultry suffer more from it than from any hawk, 

 and its rapid flight, size, strength, and daring combine to make it 

 the most destructive of the American birds of prey. 



334a. A. a. striatulus Bidgw. WESTERN GOSHAWK. 



Like A. atricapillus but darker ; upper parts from dark bluish gray to 

 sooty black ; under parts dark gray, more heavily mottled, and marked 

 with dark shaft streaks ; belly and thighs barred. Young : upper parts 

 brownish black, with buffy and rusty streakings and edgings ; stripes on 

 lower parts broader than in A. atricapillus, and deep black ; tail with four 

 blackish bands. 



Distribution. From Sitka south to California and Idaho, and east to 

 Colorado. 



Nest. In tall trees, made of sticks lined with juniper or other bark, 

 grass, tree moss, weed stalks, and pine needles. Eggs : 3 to 5, indistin- 

 guishable from those of A. atricapillus. 



Food. Especially game birds, such as sooty, ruffed, and sharp-tailed 

 grouse. 



" According to my observations, the general habits of the western 



