156 FALCONIFORMES 



CHAP. 



Micrastur, a genus found in Central and northern South 

 America, somewhat resembles Accipiter, being brown or blackish 

 above, relieved by rufous or grey and white, and white or reddish 

 below with or without cross-bars. Geranospizias ranges further 

 south, G. caerulescens, which is slaty-blue, with a few white bands 

 beneath, reaching South Brazil and Bolivia, while the Central 

 American G. niger is nearly uniform black. The thighs are 

 closely feathered, and the tibio-tarsal joint is said to act doubly. 

 Five species of Melierax or " Singing Hawk," reside in the 

 Ethiopian Eegion, especially in the south, where M. canorus is 

 plentiful. This form is ash-coloured with black primaries, black 

 and white tail, and white belly with greyish bars. The habits 

 are bold, the flight is rapid, the food consists of small mammals, 

 birds, reptiles, and locusts. The haunts are in rocky places or 

 bush country ; the nest of sticks, lined with wool and feathers, 

 is placed in a tree, and contains from three to five whitish eggs. 

 The mellow whistling or piping song is heard chiefly in the 

 morning and evening, the wide-spread African Asturinula mono- 

 grammica alone of the Family vying with it in sweetness. 



Astur comprises forty or more members, several of which have 

 exact counterparts in the genus Accipiter. 1 The more robust build, 

 shorter legs, and stouter toes serve as distinctions ; but it must be 

 noted that short wings, long legs, and bill without a notch mark 

 all Accipitrine as opposed to Falconine forms. The descriptions 

 below will be sufficient to shew the coloration, as the species, except 

 A. novae hollandiae, are very similar. Inhabitants of the wood- 

 land and river-side, they are nearly cosmopolitan, though absent 

 in parts of the Neotropical Eegion and in New Zealand ; while 

 several islands have peculiar races. A. palumbarius, the Goshawk, 

 called of old the "Gentle Falcon," is now seldom observed in 

 Britain, though once it nested in Scotland ; it ranges throughout 

 Europe and Asia to Morocco, and thence to the Himalayas and 

 Japan, or slightly further south in winter. It is ashy-brown 

 above, with four dark bands on the white-tipped tail, and is closely 

 barred with brown and white below. Daring and rapacious, with 

 marvellous power of steerage, it follows the abruptest turns of its 

 victims with the greatest ease, gliding after them in a low, per- 

 sistent style, termed by falconers " raking." The food consists of 

 small mammals and birds, but A. Radius and A. tachiro will eat 



1 J. H. Gurney, Ibis, 1875, p. 468. 



