THE GOSHAWK. 37 



hand, to let fly at any game that might be raised ; which 

 was usuaJly pheasants, partridges, quails, or cranes. Id 

 1269, Marco Paulo witnessed this diversion of the emperor, 

 which probably had existed for many ages previous. The 

 falconers distinguished these birds of sport into two classes, 

 namely, those of falconry properly so called, and those of 

 hawking ; and in this second and inferior class were included 

 the Goshawk, the Sparrow-hawk, Buzzard, and Harpy. 

 This species does not soar so high as the longer-winged 

 Hawks, and darts upon its quarry by a side glance, not by 

 a direct descent, like the true falcon. They were caught 

 in nets baited with live pigeons, and reduced to obedience 

 by the same system of privation and discipline as the falcon. 

 A pair of these birds were kept for a long time in a cage 

 by Buffon ; he remarks, that the female was at least a third 

 larger than the male, and the wings, when closed, did not 

 reach within six inches of the end of the tail. The male, 

 though smaller, was much more fierce and untameable. TlH>y 

 often fought with their claws, but seldom used the bill for 

 any other purpose than tearing their food. If this consit^ted 

 of birds, they were plucked as neatly as by the hand of the 

 poulterer ; but mice were swallowed whole, and the hair and 

 skin, and other indigestible parts, after the manner of th(3 

 genus, were discharged from the mouth rolled up in little 

 balls. Its cry was raucous, and terminated by sharp, reite- 

 rated, piercing notes, the more disagreeable the oftener they 

 were repeated, and the cage could never be approached with 



