32 



Key to Natural Groups and Species (Adults). 



A. With conspicuous line of white on each side of 

 crown, from above hinder ear-coverts. Size 

 large (20-24 in.). 



t64. Astur gentilis gentilis Linn., S.N. , i., p. 89 

 (1758). [Alps = Dalecarlian Alps, apud 

 Hartert.] 

 Common Goshawk. 



Wing S 315-334, ? 355-380 mm. ; crown 

 blackish ; above ashy brown ; below white 

 barred with blackish brown ; tail with 4 

 dark bands. '- 



Europe and 

 W. Asia (Asia 

 Minor, Palestine 

 etc.) ; in winter 

 to N. Africa and 

 Himalayas. 



*64a. Astur geniilis arrigonii Klemsc'h.,Om. MB., Sardinia, 

 xi., pp. 152-3 (1903). [Sardinia.] Corsica? 



Sardinian Goshawk. 



Smaller and much darker race ; wing ^ 

 292-305, ? 335-45 mm. 



f64b. Astur gentilis schvedowi Menz., Orn. Geogr. 

 Eur. Russia, p. 439 (1882). [Transbai- 

 kalia.] 

 Siberian Goshawk. 



Less brownish, purer grey ; markings below 



rather finer and 

 ? 353-359 mm. 



paler ; wing S 290-323, 



N. Asia to 

 Thibet ; Japan ; 

 in winter to 

 India and 

 Burma. 



^ The young of most species of the genus Astur, both in the typical group 

 and many succeeding ones, are brown above, the feathers more or less margined 

 with ochraceous or rufous, and ochraceous to creamy white (according to age) below 

 with longitudinal markings, usually in the form of streaks on throat and large oval 

 spots on breast and flanks, although in some species the flanks may be barred. Those 

 juvenile examples of A. gentilis which are whitish below are clearly older than those 

 which are ochraceous, as may be seen by lifting a feather, when a rudimentary bar 

 is seen at the base. All birds of prey change a little with their annual moults so 

 it is a fallacy to assume there are only the juvenile and adult plumages. The characters 

 given, as in other genera, are those of average adult birds. 



