120 
FALCON IFORMES 
334. American Goshawk, blue partridge hawk, hen hawk, l’autour d - 
am^rique. Astur alricapillus. L, 22. Plate XII B. A large hawk, smaller only than 
the big Buteos (Figure 175-3), striped brown and white when juvenile like several other 
species, but, when adult, uniform light grey almost all over, finely vermiculated with 
dark or lighter below. 
I igure 178 
Specific details of Goshawk; scale. 
Distinction s. The adult is, by its distinctive blue-grey colour, unmistakable. The 
juvenile resembles a number of other species, from all of which, except its next relative, the 
Cooper’s Hawk, it can be separated by its five emarginate instead of three or four (Com- 
pare Figure 178 with 184 and 188, pages 124 and 129) primaries, regularly, though some- 
times faintly, barred below to the tips (Figures 178, 179). From the Cooper’s Hawk, 
that approaches it in size, by the feathering of the leg which extends one-half or more of 
the length of the tarsus (Compare Figures 178 and 182). However, an Accipiter over 19 
inches long will almost certainly be this species. The Goshawk also often has the whites 
of the underparts tinged with huffy, which never occurs with the Cooper’s Hawk. 
Field Marks. The largest of the Accipiters, next smaller to the large Buteos, the 
Red-tail, and Swainson’s Hawk (Figure 175-3). Rounded wings, regularly barred below, 
and long tail as an Accipiter (Figure 179). Large size and, when adult, general slaty grey 
colour indicate a Goshawk. 
Nesting. In trees. 
Distribution. Breeds in the northern wooded sections across the continent. Some- 
times in winter it comes down into the prairie and southern sections in considerable numbers. 
Figure 179 
Goshawk (juvenile); scale. T ' 5 
Appearance in flight. 
