134 BRITISH BIRDS. 



Genus ACCIPITER. 



The genus Accipiter was established by Brisson in 1760, in his ( Orni- 

 thologie/ i. p. 414, and is additional to the genus Falco of Linnaeus, which 

 also includes the genus Aquila of Brisson. The type of this genus, the 

 Accipiter accipiter of Brisson, is the Sparrow-Hawk. 



The Hawks may be distinguished from most other British genera of 

 birds of prey by having the lower half of the tarsus covered, both at the 

 front and at the back, by broad transverse oblong scales (which in old 

 birds of the Sparrow-Hawks almost disappear)*. The only other genera 

 of British birds of prey possessing these characters are the Buzzards and 

 the Harriers. From both these the Hawks are readily distinguished by their 

 long legs, the tarsus being one fourth, or more than one fourth, the length 

 of the wing, and more than half the length of the first primary, and nearly 

 as long as the tibia. 



Three species of this genus are found in the British Islands two as 

 very accidental stragglers, the other as a common resident. The Hawks 

 are cosmopolitan in their distribution, and number between fifty and sixty 

 species. 



The Hawks are birds moderate in size, and elegant and slender in form. 

 Their wings are short and rounded, the tail long. They are birds of great 

 courage, and never feed on carrion. Their food is birds, small mammals, 

 and insects. They build large nests, made of sticks, in trees or on rocks, 

 and lay from three to seven eggs, varying from pale spotless blue to blue 

 richly spotted and blotched with reddish brown. 



* Ornithologists seem to have a fatality for making petty blunders. Yarrell, in his 

 generic characters of Astur, says " the tarsi covered in front with broad scales," of 

 Accipiter " legs smooth," and of Circus " tarsus naked." Newton copies these characters 

 word for word in his new edition. Dresser says of Circus " tarsus smooth," of Astur 

 "tarsus scutellate," and of Accipiter "tarsus non-scutellate." Sharpe does not mention 

 the front of the tarsus of either of these genera, but separates Circus, in consequence of 

 his erroneous belief that in this genus the hinder aspect of the tarsus is reticulate, from 

 Astur and Accipiter, in which he says it is scaled. After a careful examination of 

 numerous examples of Hawks and Harriers, I am unable to find any generic characters to 

 separate the Hawks from the Goshawks. It appears to me that in both the Hawks, 

 including the Goshawks and the Harriers, the upper part of the tarsus is feathered in front 

 and reticulated behind, the lower part scutellated both in front and behind, and the sides 

 reticulated from top to bottom. The Sparrow-Hawks, however, appear to lose these 

 characters with age. They are very conspicuous in young birds; but in old ones the 

 scales coalesce and the unfeathered part of the tarsus becomes smooth. 



