332 GOSHAWK. 



Service nor the veteran taxidermist Mr. Hastings have ever met with 

 an example anywhere in the Solway district ; and it must be 

 remembered that in many parts of Scotland (and elsewhere) the 

 Peregrine Falcon is often miscalled ' Goshawk.' It is unknown ni 

 Sutherland, and nearly so in Caithness and the Shetlands ; but in 

 the Outer Hebrides a young male was shot in December 1887 or 

 January 1S8S. In Ireland only three occurrences are authenticated. 



The Goshawk is a rare visitor to Heligoland. It is common in 

 the forest-regions of Scandinavia and Russia, down to the Black 

 and Caspian Seas ; it is also abundant in the wooded districts of 

 Germany and Central Europe generally, and not rare in many 

 parts of France, especially Normandy. In Italy, as well as in the 

 Spanish Peninsula, it is rather scarce and local, though it breeds as 

 far south as Andalucia ; it even nests in Morocco ; while in winter it 

 visits Egypt and Palestine. Eastward it ranges across Asia to the 

 Sea of Okhotsk, Japan, and China. The young migrate from the 

 northern districts ; the adults rarely do so. 



Though the old nest of some other species is occasionally repaired, 

 the bird frequently builds its own, which is a large structure of sticks, 

 placed in a tree — generally on the outskirts of a forest or near a 

 clearing, and used year after year. The 4 eggs, laid in April or early 

 in May, are pale bluish-grey, occasionally with a few rusty markings: 

 measurements 2*3 by i'8 in. The Goshawk is a bold and rapacious 

 species, preying upon hares and smaller mammals, water-fowl, game- 

 birds and poultry ; the shortness of its wings and the steering power 

 given by its comparatively long tail enabling it to follow with 

 marvellous rapidity every turn of its quarry, which it takes in a 

 style called trussing by falconers. Its hearing is very acute. 



The adult has a narrow white line above the eye and ear-coverts ; 

 upper parts ash-brown, with four broad dark bars on the tail ; under 

 parts white, thickly barred with dull black ; cere, iris, and legs 

 yellow. Male: length 20 in., wing 12 in.; female: length 23 in., 

 wing 14 in. The young bird has the upper parts brown, and five 

 dark bands on the tail ; under parts warm buff, with numerous 

 drop-shaped markings of dark brown ; iris pearl-white. 



A specimen of the American Goshawk, Asfiir atricapiUiis, said 

 — on somewhat slight evidence — to have been obtained in Perth- 

 shire in 1869, is in the Edinburgh Museum ; and another, shot in 

 Tipperary in 1870, is in the Dublin Museum. This distinct, though 

 nearly allied species, has closely freckled — not barred — under parts ; 

 it is not likely to be a genuine visitor to the British Islands. 



