THE WESTERN GOSHAWE. 503 
the ornithologist was not aware that a certain stretch of woods which the trail 
cleft belonged to a highly virtuous pair of Goshawks, until Whoof! Biff! the 
blue terror struck a blow from behind and sent the bird-man sprawling. He 
had, moreover, quick need to defend himself with sticks and stones, for the 
bird was back again in a trice, : 
and a tough sombrero alone : >. _— 
saved him from severe scalp a ae 
—~ 
wounds. Of course there 
was a nest hard by, and we 
found it, some sixty 
feet up, in a dense 
stand of fir trees. 
I accepted the pho- 
tographic — challenge 
which the discovery 
afforded, but first im- 
provised a coat 
of mail, wherein 
a stuffed knap- 
sack did duty for | 
a helmet, and 
a wrapping of 
dunnage bags 
was designed to 
PaOnse cit sulle 
shoulders. Like 
Don Quixote, I 
set out to meet 
my foe, but the 
gentil bird had 
TOSPESCw Woe 
AN INTERRUPTED MEAL. 
THE YOUNG GOSHAWK HAS CAPTURED A ROBIN 
knighthood even 
of this decadent type, and forbore to offer further indignities. As she left 
the lists she indulged a stentorian cackle, ak, ak, ak, ak, a note which reminded 
one again of the Cooper Hawk, save that it had a deal more of menace in it. 
Fortunately for our game and poultry, the “Blue Hawk” is compara- 
tively rare in Washington. It appears to be confined during the nesting 
season to the timbered regions of the Cascades and Blue Mountains. Here 
it haunts the darkest woods as well as the open heights, and makes Grouse 
and Ptarmigan the special object of its attack. At other seasons it invades 
the lower valleys and coastal regions, but is no longer a well-known bird. 
The Western Goshawk is excelled by none in display of cunning or 
