OTTER HUNTING, FALCONRY, SHOOTING 133 



feet, while the sparrow-hawk has slight ones. However, 

 ornithologists have separated them very widely, neither 

 genus nor species being the same. The goshawk is 

 Astur palumbarius, and the sparrow-hawk Accipiter nisus. 

 They are separated, too, in their habits ; the goshawk, on 

 the whole, preferring tur, and the sparrow-hawk confining 

 itself to feather. 



The bow-perch is generally used for these birds 

 instead of the block, though the latter is well enough 

 suited for the sparrow-hawk. This perch is a simple 

 contrivance ; it is made of a length of pliant wood, 

 ash perhaps, and it becomes a ' bow ' by being bent, 

 and for a bowstring, strong string, or what is far 

 better, strong wire is used. The ends> however, differ 

 from those of an ordinary bow ; they should be a foot 

 in length beyond the place where the bowstring is 

 fastened, and this in order that they may be most 

 thoroughly and firmly buried in the ground. A sub- 

 stantial ring has been run up the wood before the 

 bow was fashioned, it moves easily up and down, and 

 to it the leash is fastened. Blocks and perches must, 

 of course, be on grass, or well surrounded with straw 

 when under cover, or the hawk, when bating, will injure 

 its plumage. 



Goshawks may sometimes be procured by advertise- 

 ments. The best come from Norway, but they are 

 found also in France and Germany. England will have 

 none of them now ; there was a time when it was their 



