The BOURC review of the 1869 specimen of American Goshawk from Perthshire

Abstract

• The Records Committee of the British Ornithologists' Union (BOURC) reconsiders old records of rare birds as part of its ongoing work. Recently reviews were undertaken of the two British records of the American subspecies of Goshawk Accipiter gentilis atricapillus: one in Perthshire in 1869, and the other on the Isles of Scilly in 1935. The Perthshire record has a rather chequered history on the British List, having appeared in Various BOU Checklists published between 1883 and 1952, although it was dropped without formal review in the 5th Checklist (BOU 1971). This paper presents for the first time previously unpublished details on the Scottish occurrence and the background to its subsequent rejection (BOU 2013). The review of the Isles of Scilly reord is not yet complete (BOU 2015).