Kites, Hawks, Eagles, etc. 



value than itself that the law of the survival of the fittest should 

 be enforced by lead until these villains, from being the commonest 

 of their generally useful tribe, adorn museum cases only. Captain 

 Bendire, writing for the Government, says: "Cooper's hawk must 

 be considered as one of the few really injurious Raptores found 

 within our limits, and as it is fairly common at all seasons 

 throughout the greater part of the United States, it does in the 

 aggregate far more harm than all other hawks. It is well known 

 to be the most audacious robber the farmer has to contend with 

 in the protection of his poultry, and is the equal in every way, 

 both in spirit and dash, as well as in bloodthirstiness, of its larger 

 relative, the goshawk, lacking, however, the strength of the latter, 

 owing to its much smaller size. It is by far the worst enemy of 

 all the smaller game birds, living to a great extent on them as 

 well as on small birds generally. It does not appear to be 

 especially fond of the smaller rodents; these, as well as reptiles, 

 batrachians, and insects, seem to enter only to a limited extent 

 into its daily bill of fare, and unfortunately it is only too often the 

 case that many of our harmless and really beneficial hawks have 

 to suffer for the depredations of these daring thieves." 



American Goshawk 



(Accipiter atricapillus) 



Called also: BLUE HEN HAWK; PARTRIDGE HAWK. 



Length — Male 22 inches ; female 24 inches. 



Male and Female — Upper parts bluish slate, darkest or blackish on 

 head ; white line over and behind eye; tail like back and 

 banded with blackish bars, the last one the broadest, and 

 the tip whitish. Entire under parts evenly marked with 

 irregular wavy lines of gray and white, the barring usually 

 most heavy on the flanks and underneath. Immature birds 

 have dusky upper parts margined with chestnut, the tail 

 brownish gray barred with black, the under parts white or 

 buff streaked with black. Bill dark bluish. Feet yellow. 



Range — Northern North America; nests from northern United 

 States northward; winters so far south as Virginia. 



Season — Permanent resident. 



Another villain of deepest dye; what good can be said of it 

 beyond that it wears handsome feathers, is a devoted mate and 



315 



