NON-INDIGENOUS BRITISH BIRDS. 141 



Family FALCONID.^. Genus AsTUR. 



Sub-family ACCIPITRIN^, 



GOSHAWK. 



ASTUR PALUiMBARIUS {Li?tfice7is). 



(British : Possibly bred ; rare abnormal spring and autumn 

 migrant.) 



Single Brooded. Laying season, latter half of April and 

 first half of May. 



Breeding area : Palaearctic region. The Goshawk 

 breeds locally and somewhat sparingly throughout 

 Europe in the forest districts from the Mediterranean 

 northwards to the limits of trees. South of the Mediter- 

 ranean it has been known to breed in Morocco. East- 

 wards it breeds throughout Siberia south of the limit of 

 forest growth, and in Asia Minor, Northern Palestine, 

 Persia, Turkestan, the Himalayas, iMongolia, and North- 

 ern Cl:ina. 



Breeding habits : The Goshawk is a migrant only 

 in the most northerly portions of its area. Its favourite 

 breeding haunts are forests, large woods, and plantations ; 

 although the bird hunts for prey a good deal in open 

 country it invariably nests within the cover of trees. I 

 do not find that this species show^s any gregarious 

 tendency^ It lives in solitary isolated pairs, and un- 

 questionably mates for life, breeding in the same nest 

 year after year, or making a new nest in the old 

 neighbourhood. The nest is generally placed high up 

 in a lofty tree, either in a crotch formed by several fork- 

 ing branches, or on a broad horizontal limb close to the 

 trunk. According to the age of the nest it varies some- 

 what in size, the biggest structures being those that 

 have been increased in bulk during many successive 



