156 
BIRDS OF NEW MEXICO 
also a remarkable aeronaut, and it is not surprising to find it on occa¬ 
sion far from its breeding grounds. 
In eastern Kansas Doctor Wetmore found a flock of a dozen feeding 
on cicadas. As he describes it—“They hunted back and forth in long 
circles, soaring and turning, hardly ever getting very far from the earth. 
Occasionally one swooped down over the brush, and captured an 
insect, and sailed off eating it while flying. We never saw the birds in 
trees during our whole stay, but always on the wing” (1909, p. 157). 
HAWKS: Subfamily Accipitrinae 
“The Accipitrine Hawks are woodland birds that beat about the 
tree tops or along the edges of the woods; they do not habitually soar 
high in the open. They take their prey by surprise and quick attack 
rather than by open pursuit” (Taverner). 
WESTERN GOSHAWK: Astur atricapillus striatulatus Ridgway 
Plates 9 and 10 
Description. — Male: Length 22 inches, wing 12-13.2, tail 9.5-10.5, tarsus 2.7- 
3.5. Female: Length 24.5 inches, wing 13.5-14.2, tail 11.5-12.7. Leg feathered about 
half way down in front. Adults: Upper parts dark bluish gray , the back inclining to 
sooty blackish with black shaft streaks; top of head blackish, a whitish stripe over the 
eyes , a black stripe over the ears and occiput with bases of feathers cottony white; 
wings barred, wing linings reddish white, spotted with rufous, under surface of quills 
mainly barred; underparts whitish covered with very finely and densely penciled gray 
zigzags giving effect of bluish gray surface, marked with black shaft streaks; iris red 
in male, brownish orange in female; bill dark bluish, cere and feet yellow. Young: 
Upperparts brownish black, with buffy and rusty streakings and edgings; underparts 
with broad black streaks, the thighs with cordate spots; underside of wings and tail 
barred; iris yellow, bill brownish, cere and feet duller yellow. 
Comparisons. —The three “injurious” short winged, long-legged, hawks grade 
in size from the Sharp-shinned to the Goshawk, but when very large females can not 
surely be distinguished by measurements, the Goshawk can be known by the greater 
feathering of the leg (over instead of under one-half as in the Cooper and Sharp- 
shinned), while the Cooper can be recognized by its rounded tail, the Sharp-shinned 
by its square (even or slightly emarginate) tail. (See Plate 10.) 
Range. —Breeds from Cook Inlet, Alaska, south to Sierra Nevada in latitude 
36° 30', and through Rocky Mountains to northwestern Mexico; winters southward in 
California and east to Colorado. 
State Records. —A male Western Goshawk was collected at Tres Piedras July 
13, 1892 (Loring), and one was identified late in July, 1905, near Agua Fria in the 
Zuni Mountains (Hollister). It is not certain that either of these birds had nested in 
New Mexico for this species nests early and the young would normally have been 
fledged before the first of June. [They probably nest in the high mountains east of 
Taos. On April 19, 1919, one was seen at the G. O. S. Ranch about 35 miles northeast 
of Silver City, at about 7,500 feet (Ligon).] 
In early fall the species becomes not uncommon in the mountains of the northern 
half of the State and ranges south to the Sacramento Mountains—Cloudcroft 
September 6, 1902 (Bailey)—the San Mateo Mountains near Laguna August 17, 
1905 (Hollister); [Black Range, 15 miles northwest of Pinos Altos, September 5, 1918 
(Ligon); Silver City (20 miles east), specimens taken November 2, 1917 (Kellogg)], 
