530 



SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — BAPTORES— A CCIPITBES. 



of pale brown. Three or four eggs are the usual nest-complement ; in the Northern and 

 Middle States they are laid in May. 

 iW. AS'TXJR. (Lat. astu/r, a hawk.) Goshawks. Characters in general as above given for 

 Acdpiter; size superior, and organization more robust; feet stronger, the tarsus feathered 

 about \ way down in front and on the sides, leaving only a naiTow bare strip behind ; the 

 scutellation discontinuous at the bases of the toes, which are iinely reticulate ; resumed beyond ; 

 never fused. These "goose-hawks" or " star-hawks" are a small genus of five or six "ignoble "' 

 species, held in higb estimation by falconers for their prowess in the chase. Ours appears t( i 

 be quite distinct from A. palwrnbarius, though closely related. 

 496. A. atricapil'lus. (Lat. atricapillus, black-haired. Fig. 371.) American Goshawk. Bluk 

 Hen Hawk (adult). Chicken Hawk (young). Adult ^ ? : Above, dark bluish-slate color, 

 each feather black-shafted; top <jf head blackish, conspicuously different from other upper 

 parts, the feathers there with fleecy white bases ; a long white superciliary or rather post- 

 ocular stripe ; auriculars blackish. Ground color of under parts, including lining of wings, 

 white, closely barred or vermioulated in narrow zigzag lines vidth slaty-brown, except on throat 

 and orissum, and everywhere sharply pencilled with blackish shaft-lines, one on each feather. 

 The barring is largest and most regular on the belly, flanks, and tibiae, but is for the most part 

 much dissipated in a fine mottling. It varies greatly in coarseness in difierent specimens, some 



of whicb approach A. palum- 



barius in this respect. Tail 

 like back, banded with four 

 or five blackish bars, the ter- 

 minal one much the broadest. 

 Bill dark bluish; iris yellow- 

 ish ; feet yellow, claws black. 

 Wing-quiUs in similar pat- 

 tern, and both these and the 

 tail showing tendency to some 

 whitish mottling of inner webs 

 of the feathers. Young : The 

 difierence is substantially as 

 in species oi Accipiter: above, 

 dark brown , varied with rusty- 

 brown and whitish; below, 

 white, more or less tawny^ 

 tinged, with oblong, lance- 

 linear, clubbed or drop-shaped 

 Fie. 372. — Prairie Falcon, J nat size. (From life, by H. W. Elliott.) dark brown markings. Tail 

 more distinctly barred than in the adult, and vidtb white tip. But in any equivocal plumage, 

 the goshawk may be recognized by its size, which is that of an average Buteo, together with 

 the short rounded wings, very long fan-shaped tail, and other generic characters. Length of 

 ^ 20.00-22.00; extent about 42.00; wing 12.00-13.00 ; tail 9.00-10.00 ; tarsus 2.75 ; middle 

 toe without claw 1.75; chord of culmen without cere 0.90; ?, length 22.00-24.00; extent 

 45.00 or more; wing 13.00-14.00; tail 11.50-12.50. A large, powerful, and when in perfect 

 plumage, a very handsome hawk, of splendid spirit, the terror of the poultry-yard. A larger, 

 brighter, and altogether better bird than the European. It inhabits northern N. Am. ; the 

 northern half of the U. S. chiefly in winter, but is also resident in some parts, and breeds 

 in mountainous regions as far south at least as Colorado, where I have seen it in summer. 

 Its ordinary quarry is grouse, ptarmigan, and hares. The nesting and the eggs, as described, 

 are most like those of Acdpiter eooperi ; the eggs, probably only distinguishable by their supe- 



