68 



NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. 



cere is scarcely a continuation of the same arc, being more depressed ; but it is too short to 

 give a decidedly elliptical form to the curve of the bill. There is a conspicuous angular tooth 

 on the cutting margin of the mandible near the tip, and posterior to it the margin is slightly 

 waved. This peculiarity, seen in no other genus, constitutes the typical perfection of the whole 

 family. The nostrils, small and perfectly round, open directly inwards, and have a central 

 column. The anterior margin of the cere runs backwards on the side of the bill, towards the 

 angle of the mouth, considerably past the nostrils, before it approaches the cutting margin 

 of the mandible. The short hairlike feathers which clothe it laterally do not conceal the 

 nostrils. 



ACCIP1TER (ASTUR) PALUMBARIUS„ 



The bill of the Goshawk is more compressed and flatter on the sides than that of the Merlin 

 or true Falcons. The curve of its ridge, from the cere to the tip, is somewhat less than a 

 quadrant of a circle of three-quarters of an inch radius. The length of the cere is proportion- 

 ably greater than in the Merlin, and it is not so much arched ; in consequence of which, the 

 whole ridge has a more elliptical curve. The cutting margin of the mandible has an obtuse 

 lobe opposite the nostrils, but wants the acute tooth of the true Falcons, near the point of the 

 bill. The lower mandible has entire margins, and is rounded at its tip — not truncated, as in 

 the Falcons. The nostrils are large, nearly round, have no central column, open obliquely 

 forwards close to the margin of the cere, and are mostly covered by the wiry feathers of the 

 cere. 



