Bill short, robust; its upper outline sloping, and nearly straight at the base, then decurved; cere short, bare above; edge of upper mandible with a festoon, succeeded by a broad sinus. Nostrils elliptical. Feet of moderate length; tarsi moderate or slender, feathered at least one-third of their length, broadly scutellate before and behind; first and second toes strongest and equal, third much longer, and connected at the base by a web with the third, which is shortest; claws long, well curved, acuminate. Wings very broad, of moderate length, much rounded, fourth and fifth quills longest, first much shorter, outer four abruptly cut out on the inner web. Tail long, much exceeding the wings, rounded.
Those of more slender form, with proportionally longer tails and tarsi, are separated by many authors to form a group, to which the name of Accipiter and Nisus are given.
23. 1. Astur palumbarius, Linn. Gos Hawk.
Plate CXLI. Fig. 1. Adult Male. Fig. 2. Young.
Adult male dark bluish-grey above, the tail with four broad bands of blackish-brown, the upper part of the head greyish-black; a white band, with black lines, over the eyes; lower parts white, narrowly barred with grey, and longitudinally streaked with dark brown. Young brown above, the feathers edged with reddish-white, the head and hind neck pale red, streaked with blackish-brown, the lower parts yellowish-white, with oblong longitudinal dark brown spots.
Male, 24, 47.
From Maryland, northward. From Kentucky, northward. Migratory.
Ash-coloured or Black-capped Hawk, Falco atricapillus, Wils. Amer. Ornith. v. vi. p. 80.
Falco palumbarius, Bonap. Syn. p. 28.
American Goshawk, Falco atricapillus, Nutt. Man. v. i. p. 85.
Accipiter (Astur) Palumbarius, Swains. & Rich. F. Bor. Amer. v. ii. p. 39.
Goshawk, Falco palumbarius, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. ii. p. 241.