THE GOS-HAWKS. ^y 



which these two genera of birds can be told apart. The Gos- 

 Hawks, as we have already said, are stouter and heavier birds 

 than the Sparrow-Hawks, and these features are especially 

 evidenced by their large bills and feet. Thus a Gos-Hawk's 

 bill is much longer in proportion to the size of its head, and 

 the middle toe is shorter, whereas in the Sparrow-Hawks the 

 middle toe is very long, and the bill is comparatively small. 

 Taking, therefore, the length of the ridge of the bill from the 

 cere to the tip, we find that its dimensions go more than twice 

 into the length of the middle toe in a Sparrow-Hawk, but 

 little more than one and a half times in a Gos-Hawk. Other- 

 wise the two genera are very closely assimilated, and all the 

 members are remarkable for their short wings, in direct contrast 

 to the long wings of the True Falcons. 



The Gos-Hawks are nearly cosmopolitan in their range, 

 being found in nearly every part of America from north to 

 south, and all over the Old World, even to the Oceanic 

 Islands. 



I. THE COMMON GOS-HAWK. ASTUR PALUMBARIUS. 



Falco palumbarius. Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 130 (1760). 

 AccipiterpahimbarhtS) Macgill. Brit. B. iii. p. 340 (1840) ; Seeb. 



Brit. B. i. p. 142 (1883). 

 Astur palumbarius, Newt. ed. Yarr. Br. B. i. p. 83(1871); 



Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. i. p. 95 (1874); Dresser, B. 



Eur. v. p. 587, pi. 354 (1875) ; B. O. U. List Br. B. p. 97 



(1883); Saunders, Man. Br. B. p. 321 (1889); Lilford, Col. 



Fig. Br. B. part xix. (1891). 



Adult Male. General colour above ashy-brown; quills brown, 

 barred with darker brown, the under surface of the wing ashy- 

 grey, inclining to white near the base of the quills, with dark 

 brown cross-bars, which become obsolete on the inner quills ; 

 tail ashy-brown, tipped with white, and crossed with four broad 

 bands of dark brown ; upper tail-coverts ashy-brown, with 

 white tips ; crown of head, ear-coverts, and sides of neck 

 blackish; the hind-neck slightly mottled with white; lores, 

 cheeks, and a line above the ear-coverts white, streaked with 

 blackish ; under surface of body white, with black shaft-stripes 

 on the feathers of the throat and breast ; the entire under sur- 



