158 GOSHAWK. 



We never saw the bird upon the wing, and 

 have therefore to regret our inability to add any 

 thing important to its history. A young male, 

 shot we believe near Dalkeith, is the only Scotch 

 specimen we ever saw in a fresh state. This was 

 brought to the late Mr Wilson, janitor to the 

 Edinburgh University, and was probably sold at 

 the dispersion of his collection. In 1820 we saw 

 two newly killed females brought to a bird pre- 

 server in Paris. One of them was purchased, 

 and serves for our present description ; both had 

 been trapped, and at that period they were not 

 very uncommon in the collections of the dealers. 

 There seems to be no well authenticated instance 

 of this bird having occurred in Ireland. 



From all that we can gather, the Goshawk is a 

 sylvan species, living and hunting much like the 

 Sparrowhawk. The nest is described as built on 

 trees, placed near the trunk, and composed of 

 sticks loosely put together. It lays from two to 

 four eggs, according to the second edition of 

 Temminck, blueish white, marked with streaks 

 and spots of brown ; but in the supplement, 

 published in 1835, greenish white, without mark- 

 ings. In distribution, we consider this species 

 as confined to Europe. We have never met with 

 an extra European species, and those which we 

 have examined from America, under the title of 

 Goshawk, were undoubtedly distinct, and the 



