92 THE GOSHAWK. 



To which Clifford answers — ■ 



" So cowards fight, when they can fly no further, 

 So cloves do peck the falcon's piercing talons, 

 So desperate thieves, all hopeless of their lives, 

 Breathe out invectives 'gainst the officers." 



And, after being stabbed both by Clifford and Queen Margaret, 

 to show what apt poetic use Shakespeare makes of flight, York 

 exclaims — 



" Open the gate of mercy, gracious God ! 

 My soul flics through these wounds to seek out Thee." — Henry VI. 



It is needless to say the goshawk has no mercy, for it is said 

 to prey on its own species. How different from the grandeur 

 of mercy in man — 



" For earthly power doth then show likest God's 

 When mercy seasons justice." 



This beautiful though rapacious bird is extremely rare now in 

 Britain, and seldom seen even in the north of Scotland. As usual 

 with birds of prey the female is the largest, being 26 inches 

 from beak to end of tail, and 45 inches in extent of wings — 

 against 20 and 43. The tail is 12 inches long, and the bill 1J 

 along the. ridge, the claws sharp and strong — the one on its first 

 toe being If inches long. Its general colour is bluish-grey on 

 the upper parts, and greyish-white on the lower ; the bill is light 

 blue at the base ; the feet yellow, and claws black — the iris 

 orange. It is about the same size and colour as the gyr-falcon, 

 nearly white, for which it is often mistaken, but it is easily 

 distinguished by its shorter wings and longer tail. Though rare 

 with us, it is often found in the extensive forests of Switzerland. 

 Holland, and Germany, and common in France and Eussia. It 

 makes its own nest, like the sparrow-hawk, generally on a high 

 tree on the outskirts of the forest — rarely in the interior — no 

 doubt to have the best lookout for prey. They also build on the 

 cleft of a rock by the sea shore. The eggs are three or four, 2J 

 inches by If, something like the colour of the bird, bluish-white, 

 sometimes faintly marked with streaks and spots of red. The 

 young are hatched in the middle of May. It was used by 

 falconers as the most powerful of the short-winged, or so-called 

 "ignoble" birds of prey ; and though it does not soar nor " stoop," 

 it flies direct at its game, chiefly grouse, pheasants, ducks, geese, 

 rabbits and hares — as j its smaller cousin the sparrow-hawk was 

 trained to fly at the blackbirds and larks, etc. — these two 



