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VEKTHi;UATA. 



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THE GOSHAWK. 



color above dark grayish-brown ; beneath ashy white. Its food consists of hares, rabbits, pigeons, 

 pheasants, grouse, partridges, &c. It flies low, makes its nest in a high tree in the edges of 

 forests, and lays three or fonr eggs in May. It was formerly trained to falconry. The Falcon 

 (fentil of the writers on falconry, was probably the young of this species. It is common in all 

 Northern Europe. 



Other foreign species are as follows: the Pied Goshawk, A. indanolcucus ; the Radiated 

 Falcon, A. radiatus ; the One-banded Hawk, A. unicinctiis ; the New Holland White Eagle, 

 A. JVovce Hollandicc ; the Three-streak Hawk, A. trivirgatus; the Plumbeous Falcon, A. niti- 

 dus ; the Gray-bellied Falcon, A. poUogaster ; the Spotted Falcon, A. leucorrJious ; and the 

 Great-billed Falcon, A. magnirostris. 



The American Goshawk — the Black-cap Hawk of Wilson — A. africapillus, which has been 

 erroneously regarded as identical with the common goshawk of Europe, greatly resembles that 

 bird, however, but it is of a lighter color, and the bands are narrower and more numerous. It is 

 sparsely distributed in Northern and Eastern North America. 



Genus ACCIPITER : Accipiter. — This term, from the Latin, signifying Hawk, was used by 

 Linnjpus as the title of the order which we call Raptorcs ; as the name of a genus, we here apply 

 it to the species of small hawks of which the European Sparrow-IIawk — the Epervkr of the 

 French — A. nisus, is the type. This bird, which is to be distinguished from the American Spar- 

 roxo-IIaivk, noticed under the genus Falcon, resembles that bird, being about twelve inches 

 in length ; ilark brown above, reddish below, with numerous cross-bands of dark brown. It 

 haunts wooded districts, and devours large mnnbers of small birds and small quadrupeds ; it is 

 also a great depredator among the chickens of the poultry-yard. It was formerly used in falconry, 

 especially for the hunting of land-rails. It frequently makes use of old nests, especially those of 

 the crow, where it lays four or five eggs of a pale bluish-white, blotched and spotted with dark 

 brown. It is common in Europe and Asia. 



Other foreign species are the Dwarf Falcon, A. mimillus, ash-colored above, and wliite banded 

 with brown below ; not larger than our robin, but exceedingly courageous, and contending suc- 

 cessfully against crows and shrikes — found in Africa: the Tiny Falcon, A. tinus ; the Streaked 

 Hawk, A. virgatus ; the Red-thighed Sparrow-Hawk, A. erythronemia ; the Speckled Spar- 



