Black-mantled goshawk explained

The black-mantled goshawk (Accipiter melanochlamys) is a species of bird of prey in the family Accipitridae.It is found in the highlands of New Guinea.Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.

The black-mantled goshawk was figured in John Gould's The Birds of New Guinea and the Adjacent Papuan Islands, and it was placed in the genus Astur. The plate was prepared by William Matthew Hart.^[1]

This species has been treated as polytypic; however, the more recent contention is that it is monotypic, following Beehler & Pratt.^[2]

The form schistacinus was described from Mount Goliath by Rothschild and Hartert.^[3] They described this subspecies as being distinct from the nominate in "the black of the upperside, including wings and tail, having a decided greyish wash or bloom, so that, instead of being glossy black, the upper surface is slaty black, and the collar, and especially the underside, is distinctly paler, more cinnamon-chestnut than rufous-chestnut." Beehler & Pratt^[4] wrote that they did "not think this minor clinal distinction merits recognition."

Notes and References

1. Gould, J. The Birds of New Guinea and the Adjacent Papuan Islands. Volume I, plate I. 1886. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/229855#page/7/mode/1up
2. Beehler, B.M. & Pratt, T.K. Birds of New Guinea: Distribution, Taxonomy, & Systematics. Princeton University Press, 2016. (p. 211).
3. List of the Collections of Birds Made by Albert S. Meek in the Lower Ranges of the Snow Mountains, on the Eilanden River, and on Mount Goliath in the Years 1910 and 1911. Novitates Zoologicae. 20:482. 1913.
4. Beehler, B.M. & Pratt, T.K. Birds of New Guinea: Distribution, Taxonomy, & Systematics. Princeton University Press, 2016. (p. 211).