374 LAND-BIRDS. 



IV. ASTUR* 



A. ATRICAPILLUS. American Goshawk. " Partridge 

 Hawk" In Massachusetts, a resident throughout the year, 

 but very rare in the breeding season and summer.! 



a. 20-24 inches long. Above, ashy or slate, becoming 

 blackish on the head. Tail with dark bands and a white tip. 

 Superciliary line and under parts, white ; the latter waved or 

 barred, and finely streaked, with ashy brown or slate. 



b. The nest is usually built of sticks, etc., in a tall tree. 

 The eggs measure about 2.25 X 1.75 of an inch, or more, and 

 are white, strongly tinged with blue or green, and sometimes 

 marked with brown. 



c. The handsome Goshawks are constant residents in 

 northern New England, and also in Massachusetts, where, 

 however, they are so extremely rare in summer that I have 

 found but one nest,J and have seen only two pairs. In winter, 

 they are seldom common near Boston, though their numbers 

 vary from year to year. They are very spirited and destruc- 

 tive, feeding principally upon rabbits, squirrels, Pigeons, 

 Grouse, and Ducks. They are also very active, perching and 

 sailing comparatively little. They move, often at a consider- 

 able height, with a regular beating of the wings, which is re- 

 doubled, should they give chase to a flock of birds, when they 

 move with a speed unsurpassed by that of any other Hawk. I 

 have seen one press into a company of Pine Grosbeaks and 

 seize one in each foot. On perceiving a single bird of tempt- 

 ing size, they sometimes secure it by diving from above, when, 

 without a moment's pause, they carry it to a perch. In the 

 woods they fly rather low, ready to drop upon their prey, but 

 so rapidly that one might imagine that their sight would be 



* Now regarded as a subgenus of numbers. I have yet to see a speci- 



Accipiter. W. B. men taken in the breeding-season in 



t The American Goshawk is regu- any part of southern New England, 



larly not uncommon in autumn and W. B. 



winter in northern New' England, J Mr. Minot's omission of the evi- 



where it breeds, also, at least occasion- dence on which the identification of 



ally. Ordinarily it is a rather rare this nest was based will of necessity 



bird in southern New England, but at cause all careful compilers to reject 



long and irregular intervals it visits the record. W. B. 

 eastern Massachusetts in considerable 



