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Genus ASTUR. 



Accipiter apud Brisson, Orn. i. p. 317 (1760). 

 Falco apud Linnseus, Syst. Nat. i. p. 126 (1766). 

 Astur, Lacepede, Mem. de l'lnst. iii. p. 505 (1800-1). 

 Dcedalion apud Savigny, Syst. Ois. de l'Egypte, &c. p. 33 (1810). 

 Sparverius apud Vieillot, Nouv. Diet. x. p. 331 (1817). 

 Suteo apud Fleming, Brit. Anim. i. p. 54 (1828). 



By many authors the two genera Astur and Accipiter have been united ; but they form two 

 fairly separable groups. The genus Astur is represented in the Pahearctic, Ethiopian, Oriental; 

 Australian, Nearctic, and Neotropical Regions, only one species being found in the Western 

 Palsearctic Region. 



These short-winged Hawks are extremely swift and agile on the wing ; and being fierce 

 and rapacious, they are very destructive to game. They feed on small birds of various kinds, 

 Partridges, Grouse, Ducks, Pigeons, Hares, Rabbits, &c. &c, and will often visit farm-yards and 

 seize domestic poultry. They are frequently used for falconry, and are by some falconers held 

 in considerable estimation. They inhabit groves, forests, &c, but are not often seen in open 

 treeless plains away from woods, being chiefly forest-frequenting birds. They breed in woods, 

 placing their nests, which are constructed of boughs and twigs, and lined with finer twigs, on 

 large trees near the edge of a forest ; and occasionally they take possession of and repair the 

 deserted nest of some other bird. Their eggs, from two to four in number, are pale bluish or 

 greenish white, without any markings. 



Astur palumbarius, the type of the genus, has the bill short, strongly decurved from the 

 base, the cutting-edge of the upper mandible festooned ; nostrils oval ; wings short, scarcely 

 reaching to the middle of the tail, the first quill shorter than the secondaries, the second shorter 

 than the fifth, the fourth longest ; tail long, slightly rounded ; legs strong, the tarsus scutellate ; 

 toes moderate, the middle toe longest, the lateral ones nearly equal, but the inner claw much 

 larger than the outer ; the hind claw very large ; claws strong, curved, acute. 



The American Goshawk (Astur atricapillus) has been included in the British list, three 

 examples having been recorded as obtained in the British Islands — viz. one in Perthshire in 

 1869 (Robert Gray, Ibis, 1870, p. 292), one in Tipperary in 1870 (Sir Victor Brooke, Ibis, 

 1870, p. 538), and one at Parsonstown, King's county, in the same year (Basil Brooke, Zool. 

 s. s. p. 2524) ; but I have not deemed it advisable to include it. This species may be recognized 

 in the adult dress by having a darker head, and the unclerparts much more closely barred. 



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