136 BULLETIN" 16 7, UN^ITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Mr. Tufts mentions in his notes a few cases where the female left 

 the nest and disappeared silently and where the male seemed more 

 concerned, but he says farther on: 



I fear the impression you will gain from the foregoing notes is that tlie 

 female goshawk is not fierce and hold and that the male is usually more bold 

 in defence of the nest than is liis mate. This is not so, and I realize in writing 

 the foregoing notes I was stressing the unusual. Tiie fact is that the female 

 is usually much more in evidence about the nest than her mate and is often 

 much bolder than tbe male and is much oftener vicious than timid at such 

 times. Extremes are, however, noteworthy. I have had a female attack me 

 while in the nest tree and tear my clothes and even my skin. Other times 

 I have had her strike me a vicious blow with what I believed was a clenched 

 talon. I have never had a male bird strike me. 



Voice. — The voice of the goshawk shows its relationship to the 

 Cooper's hawk, as it is similar, but louder and harsher, when attack- 

 ing an intruder. This alarm note is usually written as cac, cac, cac, 

 or cnk, euk, cuk, or kck, kek, kek. Mr. Cross interprets it as ^^keep^ 

 keep^ keep., with the ee^s shrilly intensified." Dr. Sutton (1925) 

 writes : 



From 8 : 00 A. M. to 1 : 30 P. M. I heard her give only two call-notes. The 

 most commonly given was the well known "Co, c«, ca, ca" rapidly repeated 

 and with a heavy goose-like quality that was noticeable. The first two syllables 

 of such a series of screams were often hoarse and throaty with a sinister, 

 double-toned character. Sometimes when the bird was passing swiftly through 

 the trees to a perch she called "Kuk, kuk, kuk" in deep, somewhat milder tones. 

 This note was decidedly like the warning note of the Blue Goose as heard in 

 the James Bay region. 



From 12 : 4.5 to 1 : 30 P. M. I remained almost absolutely quiet and feigned 

 sleep as best I could in spite of the innumerable black flies which became 

 increasingly annoying as the day advanced. But after this period of quiet 

 the voice of the female bird suddenly changed, and her screams were so high, 

 clear and plaintive that I was honestly startled. This new note sounded like 

 "Kec-a-ah", and reminded me of the call of the red-shoulder, but was more 

 powerful and at the same time more musical, and had a plaintive character that 

 rather affected my sympathy. I sensed immediately that this call indicated 

 a change of some kind in the bird's attitude. Suddenly the dark, swiftly 

 flying male appeared, bearing in his claws a black squirrel. His scream as he 

 approached the nest was long, high and thin, and not nearly so powerful as 

 that of his mate. 



The notes that I heard while the hawks were protesting at my 

 approach to the nest were recorded as krae, h^ae, krae, or krai/, kray, 

 kray, loud, rapidly uttered, and repeated many times. 



Mr. Tufts says in his notes : 



The usual cry is a strident staccato cac, cac, cac, which has a piercing, menac- 

 ing tone and is uttered rather deliberately. This is the common alarm note 

 as an intruder approaches a nest, and I have never heard it except in the 

 nesting season. In fact, I have never heard a goshawk make any note except 

 at that time. It was not until the past spring that I learned of two new notes. 

 One, a high-pitched, shrill caw, can; caw, caio, uttered slowly and with a 



