166 GAME BIRDS AND WILD FOWL. 



and the bird fell or flew away, no attempt was 

 made, no inclination was evinced to break the 

 point ; but they would ' down charge ' as instan- 

 taneously and perfectly as if the discipline usual 

 in such cases had never been for a moment re- 

 laxed. Nay more, two of them used to act 

 regularly as retrievers when the word was given 

 to follow a wounded bird. Colonel Bonham said 

 that both of these were good field dogs, and one 

 of them the very staunchest that he ever pos- 

 sessed. 



Besides his favourite peregrines, Colonel Bon- 

 ham obtained a pair of goshawks which were bred 

 on the Duke of Gordon's estate at Fochabers ; 

 but he found them of little use in the open 

 country about Scardroy. The goshawk is short- 

 winged ; his flight is close to the ground, and, 

 compared with that of the falcon, tedious and un- 

 interesting. He is in fact a sparrow-hawk on a 

 larger scale, and was accordingly included in the 

 same sub-genus (accipiter) by naturalists, until 

 Cuvier, observing the comparative shortness and 

 stoutness of the tarsi and the moderate length of 

 the middle toe which in the sparrow-hawk is 

 considerable formed a separate genus (astur) for 

 its reception. The habits of the goshawk are as 

 different as its conformation from those of the 

 falcon. Instead of soaring to a great height and 



