342 THE BIRDS OF YORKSHIRE. 



to the Zoologist (1899, p. 28), and later, in correspondence, 

 by Mr. T. Southwell of Norwich, being satisfactory as regards 

 the identification of the bird and eggs. The recorder writes : — 

 An adult female Goshawk was shot at the nest a few days 

 before the 13th May 1893, by Mr. W. M. Frank, keeper to 

 Capt. Buncombe at Westerdale, in Cleveland. The nest, 

 which contained four fresh eggs, was placed on the branch of a 

 slender spruce fir, near the trunk, and about twenty feet from 

 the ground. It was very large and flat, and the bird was wild 

 and difficult to get a shot at ; eventually she was enticed by 

 imitation of her cry. Mr. Frank was under the impression 

 she had a mate, but he did not see two birds together. Two 

 eggs were sent to the Norwich Museum, along with the parent 

 bird. A suggestion was put forward by Mr. Heatley Noble, 

 who supplied the facts to Mr. Southwell, that the Hawk 

 may have been an escaped trained bird, as only one was seen ; 

 the eggs were fresh ; and the bird was mutilated by the loss 

 of a toe. Per contra ]\Ir. Frank argued that though he did 

 not see a male bird he thinks there was one, but it may have 

 been scared away ; the eggs were fresh because the female 

 had not time given her to incubate. As to the inference that 

 she was an escaped bird. Prof. Newton called attention to 

 a passage in Gairdner's Edition of the " Paston Letters " 

 (Lubbock's " Fauna of Norfolk," 1879, p. 225), which shows 

 that these trained Hawks were so far sedentary in their habits 

 that, provided the locality were suitable, a liberated bird 

 might be expected to remain and nest. 



In confirmation of the " escape " theory it ma}'' be well 

 to bear in mind that at Mulgrave Castle, near Whitby, which 

 was, at the date of Mr. Southwell's communication, in the 

 occupation of Lord Hillingdon, I have seen Goshawks used for 

 rabbit hawking, which was a favourite sport of his lordship, 

 though I am not aware of the loss of any of these trained birds. 



