80 BIRDS OF PNNNSYLVANIA. 



nithologist and poultry-raiser." *Dr. Wood further says : " Its food 

 consists of any kind of game that it can capture, often attacking and 

 killing birds much larger than itself. Partridges, quails, pigeons, and 

 young rabbits constitute no inconsiderable portion of its bill-of-fare 

 inland, while on the sea coast, teal, young ducks and many of the 

 water birds satiate its rapacious appetite." Nuttall, in speaking of 

 the dietary of this Hawk, says : " His food appears principally to be 

 birds of various kinds ; from the sparrow to the Ruffed grouse, all 

 contribute to his rapacious appetite. In common with the sharp- 

 shinned hawk, his depredations among domestic fowls are very de- 

 structive." 



Of the thirty-four birds which I have examined, sixteen showed the 

 food taken to have been chickens ; ten revealed small birds sparrows, 

 warblers and meadow larks two, quail ; one, bull-frogs ; three, mice 

 and insects ; two, hair and other remains of small quadrupeds. 



334. Accipiter atricapillus (WiLS.). 



American Goshawk. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Adult. Head above, neck behind, and stripe from behind the eye, black, gener- 

 ally more or less tinged with ashy ; other upper parts dark ashy-bluish or slate color, 

 with the shafts of the feathers black, and frequently with the feathers narrowly edged 

 with black, presenting a squamate or scale-like appearance; a conspicuous stripe ' 

 over the eye, and an obscure and partially concealed occipital and nuchal band, 

 white ; entire under parts mottled with white and light ashy-brown ; every feather 

 with a longitudinal line of dark-brown on its shaft, and with numerous irregular 

 and imperfect transverse lines or narrow stripes of light ashy-brown, more distinct 

 and regular on the abdomen and tibiae ; quills brown, with bands of a deeper shade 

 of the same color, and of ashy-white on their inner webs ; tail same color as other 

 upper parts ; under surface very pale, nearly white, and having about four obscure 

 bands of a deeper shade of ashy-brown, and narrow r ly tipped with white ; under tail 

 coverts white ; bill dark bluish ; cere and feet yellow ; claws black ; iris yellowish. 



Young. Entire upper parts, including head, dark-brown, with the feathers, espe- 

 cially on the head and neck behind, edged and spotted with light-reddish, or nearly 

 white ; tail light-ashy, with about five wide and conspicuous bands of ashy-brown, 

 and narrowly tipped with ashy-white ; quills brown, w r ith wide bars of a darker 

 shade of the same color, and wide bands of reddish-white on their inner webs ; under 

 parts white, generally tinged with yellowish, and frequently with reddish, every 

 feather with a longitudinal stripe terminating in an ovate spot of brown ; sides and 

 tibiae frequently with circular and lanceolate spots and irregular bands of the same 

 color, the latter (tibiae) generally very conspicuously marked in this manner ; under 

 tail coyerts white, with a few large lanceolate spots of brown. 



Total length, female, 22 to 24 inches ; extent about 46 ; wing about 14 ; tail, 10^ to 

 11 inches. Male, about 20 inches ; extent about 43 ; wing, 12.^ ; tail, 9^ inches. When 

 flying, this species, in any plumage, is easily distinguished by its large size and long 

 tail. 



Hab. Northern and eastern North America, breeding mostly north of the United 

 States. South in winter to the Middle States. Accidental in England. 



*"The Birds of Connecticut." by Wm. Wood, M. D., is the title of a series of valuable papers 

 published about 1878-79 in " Familiar Science," a monthly journal. 



