374 FALCON AND EAGLE GROUP 



falconry, especially in India, and when loosed fly direct for their quarry, 

 yet they lack the bold dash and high courage of the peregrine falcon ; 

 and it would seem not improbable that the name " goose-hawk " may 

 refer to this inferiority in the matter of pluck, rather than, as has 

 been suggested, to the capability of the species of striking down such a 

 large bird as a wild goose. Essentially a forest- bird, the goshawk 

 in the Himalaya preys on monal and other pheasants, partridges, 

 pigeons, and various other kinds of birds, as well as the smaller rodents 

 and such other quadrupeds as it can slay ; while in Europe, grouse, 

 ptarmigan, rabbits, hares, and wild ducks may be added to its list of 

 victims. Despite the shortness of its wings, the goshawk has no 

 difficulty in overtaking a hare or a rabbit, whose doublings it follows 

 with unerring skill and unceasing pertinacity ; and as it is a bird very 

 easily tamed, it is a great favourite among the native Indian chiefs in 

 falconry, by whom it is used for taking bustards, ducks, hares, and 

 more rarely partridges. The latter part of April or commencement of 

 I\Iay is the breeding-season of the goshawk in most parts of Europe, 

 but in the Himalaya the period extends from March till June. These 

 birds build their own nests ; each pair generally returning }-ear after 

 year to their old nursery, which is annually repaired and added to, until 

 in some cases it becomes a huge structure. The nest is invariably 

 placed in a tree and built of coarse twigs. Four is the most common 

 number of eggs in a clutch, but there are not unfrequently only three, 

 while occasionally the number is increased to five. They are quite 

 unlike those of the falcons, being generally almost white, with a bluish 

 tinge, although occasionally spotted, or even blotched. When in the 

 nest, their natural colour is much obscured by dirt. 



Of the American goshawk (Astur atricapillus^, distinguished by its 

 black head and freckled breast, an e.xample was killed in Tipperary in 

 1870, and a second in King's County soon afterwards, while there is a 

 report as to a third having been shot in Perthshire. It is, however, by 

 no means certain that these were not birds escaped from captivity or 

 which had been carried across the Atlantic in the rigging of ships. 



Sparrow-Hawk Sparrow-hawks, of which there are at least five- 

 (Accipiter nisus) «i'itl-t^^'ciity species, with an almost cosmopolitan 

 distribution, are so similar to goshawks that there 

 has been some question of separating them generically from the latter. 

 They are, however, readily distinguished by the much greater length 

 and slenderness of the shank of the leg and the toes, the middle one of 

 the latter being especially elongated and projecting far beyond the 



