60 FALCONID.E. 



plied Mr. Hewitson with the following lines, which are 

 here copied from his beautiful work on the eggs of British 

 Birds : — " The Goshawk builds its own nest, and, if un- 

 disturbed in its possession, will frequently occupy it for 

 several years, making the necessary repairs. It is placed 

 in some high tree on the outskirts of the forest, and is 

 rarely found in the interior, except in those parts which are 

 open and free from timber. The eggs are three or four, 

 and are frequently hatched by the middle of May." 



The eggs of the Goshawk are rare : the few that I have 

 seen were uniform in size and colour, two inches and three 

 sixteenths in length by one inch eleven sixteenths in 

 breadth, of a pale bluish white without any spots or 

 streaks. 



A full-grown female measures from twenty-three to 

 twenty-four inches in length ; — the males, one-fourth, and 

 sometimes one- third less ; but when adult, the plumage is 

 nearly similar. The beak is horn colour or bluish black ; 

 the cere and irides yellow : the top of the head, the whole 

 of the back, upper surface of the wings, and tail-feathers, 

 dark greyish brown, — in females the colour inclines to 

 clove brown ; the upper surface of the tail-feathers 

 barred with darker brown : a band passing over the lore, 

 eyes, cheeks and ear-coverts, the nape of the neck, throat, 

 breast, belly and thighs, nearly white, with spots, transverse 

 bars, and undulating lines of dull black ; under tail-coverts 

 white ; lore, cheeks, and ear-coverts greyish brown, forming 

 an elongated dark patch on the side of the head ; the legs 

 and toes yellow ; the claws black. 



Young birds have the beak, cere, and eyes nearly similar 

 to those of the old birds ; the top of the head, nape, and 

 ear-coverts, ferruginous white, each feather darker in the 

 middle; back, wings, and upper tail-coverts, brown, mar- 

 gined with buff; upper surface of the tail-feathers with five 



