uniform in colour and less distinctly barred than in the
male.
Young males are like the female till after their first
winter, but begin by slow degrees of change in colour to
exhibit the plumage which distinguishes the male after having
completed their first year.
Mr. John Atkinson of Leeds, in his compendium of the
Ornithology of Great Britain, says of the Kestrel, “ Our
tame specimens, having their wings cut to prevent escape,
exhibited great adroitness in climbing the trunk of a tree.'”
RAPTORES. FALCONIDÆ.
T H E G O SH AW K .
Falco palumbarius, The Goshawk, P enn. Brit. Zool. vol. i. p. 225.
M ontagu, Ornith. Diet.
B ewick, Brit. Birds, vol. i. p. 28.
Buteo ,, ,, F leming, Brit. An. p. 54.
Astur ,, Selby, Brit. Ornith. vol. i. p. 29.
Accipiter ,, ,, J enyns, Brit. Vert. An. p. 85.
Astur ,, ,, G ould, Birds of Europe, pt. vii.
Falco ,, L* Autour, T emm. Man. d’Ornith. vol. i. p. 55.
A stur. Generic Characters.—Bill short, bending from the base ; cutting
edge of the upper mandible produced, forming a festoon. Nostrils oval.
Wings short, reaching only, to the middle of the tail-feathers, the fourth
quill-feather the longest. Legs stout, the tarsi covered in front with broad
scales. Toes of moderate length, the middle toe the longest, the lateral toes
nearly equal.