THE SPARROW-HAWKS. 



T 4 I 



Astur atricapillus, Newton, ed. Yarr. Br. B. i. p. 87, note 

 (1871); Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. i. p. 97 (1874)'; See- 

 bohm, Brit. B. i. p. 145 (1883); B. O. U. List Brit. B. 

 p. 98 (1883) ; Saunders, Man. Brit. B. p. 322, note (1889). 

 Adult Male. Similar to A. palumbarius, and of about the 

 same dimensions, but having a black head, and the markings 

 on the under surface taking the form of freckles, not bars ; 

 cere, feet, and iris yellow; bill bluish-black. Total length', 

 20-5 inches; culmen, 1*4; wing, 12-9; tail, 9-5; tarsus, 2 '6. 



Adult Female. Similar to the male, but larger. Total length, 

 24 inches; wing, 14-0; tarsus, 3-1. 



Young Birds. Resemble the young of A. palumbarius. 



Range in Great Britain. Has occurred three times : once in 

 Scotland, said to have been shot in Perthshire by a keeper. 

 Two have been taken in Ireland : one, according to the late 

 Sir Victor Brooke, on the Galtee Mountains in Tipperary, in 

 March, 1883, and another near Parson's Town, in King's 

 County, was recorded shortly after by the late Mr. Basil 

 Brooke. 



Range outside the British Islands. The present species is an 

 inhabitant of North America, where it is found in the arctic 

 portion of the continent, breeding in the Northern United 

 States, and as far south as Colorado. 



Habits. Similar to those of the European species. 



Brest. In trees. 



Egg S . Two or three ; white, or glaucous-white, sometimes 

 very faintly marked with pale brownish. Axis, 2*31 inches; 

 diam., 170 (Ridgway). 



THE SPARROW-HAWKS. GENUS ACCIPITER. 



Accipiter, Brisson, Orn. i. p. 310 (1760). 



Type, A. nisus (L.). 



The Sparrow-Hawks are considered by some ornithologists 

 to belong to the same genus as the Gos-Hawks, and vice versa. 

 As already mentioned, however, I do not consider these birds 

 to be generically the same, for the Sparrow-Hawks throughout 



