i 



THE 



EDINBURGH JOURNAL 



OF 



KATURAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL SCIENCE. 



MARCH, 1831. 



ORIGINAL ARTICLES. 



ART. I. — An Account of the Habits of the American Goshawk, 

 (Falco palumbarius, Wils,) By J. J. Audubon, Esq. F. R. S. 

 F. L. S. &c. (In a letter to Sir William Jardine, Bart.) 



Dear Sir, — As you have expressed a desire to obtain from 

 me some account of the habits of the American Goshawk, the 

 Palcopalumbariics of Wilson, with the view of ascertaining whether 

 or not that bird is identical with the European goshawk, the 

 Falco palumbarius of Linnaeus and others, I have pleasure in 

 gratifying your wishes, and hope that the following statement 

 may prove, what, in my opinion, is fact, that the Autour royal 

 {Falco regalis^ of Temminck's Planches coloriees is only an indif- 

 ferent figure of the goshawk, drawn, however, from a beautiful 

 specimen of an adult male, which I saw in Philadelphia, in 1824, 

 in the possession of my friend, M. Lesueur, and subsequently in 

 the museum of Paris, to which it was sent by that well-known 

 naturalist. 



The American goshawk is always a rare bird in the United 

 States, making its appearance in the middle districts, about the 

 beginning of September, when it comes from more northern 

 latitudes. It migrates farther southward according to the 

 severity of the season, and, during hard winters, is found as far 

 south as Louisiana, but more usually, on such occasions, in the 

 lower parts of Kentucky, and the state of Indiana. I have shot 

 several individuals of this species in all the parts above mentioned, 

 and, in 1829, I shot a young male, of which I drew a figure, in 



VOL. III. T 



