BIRDS-ACCIPITRINAE-ASTUR ATRICAPILLUS. 
15 
Sub-Family ACCIPITRINAE. 
THE HAWKS. 
Form rather long and slender, tail and legs long, wings rather short, bill short, hooked, 
upper mandible lobed, but not toothed. Very active and vigilant and swift of flight, pursuing 
their prey, which consists of birds and small quadrupeds, into the woods and forests. 
ASTUR, Lac. 
Astur , Lacepede, Mem. Inst. Ill, p. 506. 
The largest birds of this sub-family. General form strong, but rather long and slender ; wing rather short; tail long and 
Lrcnd ; tarsi long, covered in front with rather wide transverse scales ; toes and claws moderate, the latter fully curved, sharp. 
Bill short, curved ; nostrils large, ovate, inserted in the cere. This genus contains about twelve species of all countries. 
ASTUR ATRICAPILLUS, Wilson. 
The Goshawk. 
Falco atricapillus, Wilson, Am. Orn. VI. 80. (1812.) 
Falco regalis, Temm. pi. col. 1. (liv. 84, about 1827.) 
Dxdalion pictum, Lesson, Traite d’Orn. I, 67. (1831.) 
Figures _Wilson Am. Orn. VI, pi. 52, fig. 3 ; Rich, and Sw. Faun. Bor. Am. Birds, pi. 26 ; Jard. and Selby, Ill. Orn. 
pi. 121 ; Aud. B. of Am. pi. 141, Oct. ed. I, pi. 23 ; Temm. pi. col. 495. 
Adult. —Head above, neck behind, and stripe from behind the eye, black, generally 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 squainate 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 tbe 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, 
near'y white, an having about four obscure bands of a deeper shade of ashy brown, and narrowly tipped with white ; under tail 
covert white. 
Young —Entire upper parts, including head, dark brown, with the feathers, especially 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, with 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 longitucinal stripe, terminating in an ovate spot of brown. Sides and tibiae frequently with circular and Ianceo 1 te 
spo's, and irregular bands of the same color, the latter (tibiae) generally very conspicuously marked in this manner. Under 
tail coverts white, with a few large lanceolate spots of brown. 
Total length, female, 22 to 24 inches, wing about 14, tail 10| to 11 inches. Male, about 20 inches, wing 12J, tail inches. 
Hab. North America, chiefly in the northwestern portions. 
All the specimens of this fine species in the collections of the expeditions are from Oregon 
and Washington Territory, and are of both adults and young birds. It is apparently more 
abundant in northwestern America than it is known to he in any other portion of the United 
States. 
The adult of this species is well known, and is represented in all the plates cited above. It 
is one of the most strongly marked and easily recognized of American hawks. 
Though confounded with the European goshawk ( Aslur palumbarius) by Audubon, the 
present species is strongly marked, and easily distinguished. The transverse bands on the 
