238 ACCIPITER PALUMBARIUS. 



dubon, and others, the Goss Hawk nestles in tall trees, 

 and lays three or four eggs, of a bluish-white colour, 

 spotted with reddish-brown. The nest is said to be 

 very bulky, composed of sticks and coarse grass. The 

 young are at first covered with buff-coloured down. It 

 has been said by Pennant and others to breed in the 

 pine-forests on the Dee and Spey ; but who has seen 

 its nest in Britain ? and why do people talk as if they 

 were familiar with it ? 



Young. — The young birds differ so much in appear- 

 ance from the old, that they have been mistaken for a 

 different species. The bill is dark brown, paler at the 

 base, the cere and legs greenish-yellow, the claws 

 brownish-black. The head above is dark brown, the 

 feathers edged with light yellowish-red. The hind 

 neck is yellowish-white, streaked with dark brown, its 

 lower part yellowish-red, with large dark brown spots. 

 The general colour of the upper parts is hair-brown, 

 the feathers edged with yellowish-red ; the scapulars 

 have three broad bands of whitish, Avhicb are not seen 

 without raising the feathers. The quills are all tipped 

 with whitish, and the primaries are barred with dark 

 brown. On the tail are five broad bars of dark brown, 

 and an equal number of light greyish-brown, the fea- 

 thers largely terminated with white ; the lower parts 

 are light yellowish-red, or reddish-white ; the throat, 

 legs, and lower tail-coverts, with lines of blackish-brown, 

 the upper part of the breast with longitudinal oblong 

 bands, the lower part with lanceolate spots of the same 

 colour. The changes from this to the adult state I am 



