THE GOSHAWK. 25 



.• 

 When tlius engaged with its prey, it stands nearly upright ; and in 

 general, when perched, it keeps itself more erect than most species 

 of hawks. It is extremely expert at catching snipes on the 

 wing ; and so well do these birds know their insecurity, that, on its 

 approach, they prefer squatting to endeavoring to escape by flight. 



" When the passenger pigeons are abundant in the western 

 country, the Goshawk follows their close masses, and subsists 

 upon them. A single hawk suffices to spread the greatest terror 

 among their ranks ; and the moment he sweeps towards a flock, 

 the whole immediately dive into the deepest woods, where, not- 

 withstanding their great speed, the marauder succeeds in clutching 

 the fattest. While travelling along the Ohio, I observed several 

 hawks of this species in the train of millions of these pigeons. 

 Towards the evening of the same day, I saw one abandoning its 

 course to give chase to a large flock of Crow Blackbirds ( Qids- 

 calus versicolor), then crossing the river. The hawk approached 

 them with the swiftness of an arrow, when the blackbirds rushed 

 together so closely that the flock looked like a dusky ball passing 

 through the air.^ On reaching the mass, he, with the greatest ease, 

 seized first one, then another and another, giving each a squeeze 

 with his talons, and suffering it to drop upon the water. In this 

 manner he had procured four or five, before the poor birds reached 

 the woods, into which they instantly plunged, when he gave up the 

 chase, swept over the water in graceful curves, and picked the fruits 

 of his industry, carrying each bird singly to the shore. Reader, is 

 this instinct or reason ? 



" The nest of the Goshawk is placed on the branches of a tree, 

 near the trunk or main stem. It is of great size, and resembles 

 that of our crow, or some species of owl ; being constructed of with- 

 ered twigs and coarse grass, with a lining of fibrous strips of plants 

 resembling hemp. It is, however, much flatter than that of the 

 crow. In one I found, in the month of April, three eggs ready to 

 be hatched: they were of a dull bluish-white, sparingly spotted 

 with light reddish-brown. In another, which I found placed on a 

 pine-tree, growing on the eastern rocky bank of the Niagara River, 

 a few miles below the great cataract, the lining was formed of 

 withered herbaceous plants, with a few feathers : the eggs were 

 four in number, of a white color tinged with greenish-blue, large, 

 much rounded, and somewhat granulated. 



