108 ACCIPITRES. 



which they at last take is not uniform. Sometimes they are 

 (the males especially) nearly white, and at other times the 

 same sex is tawny with few markings. 



The favourite dwellings of the gos-hawk are the extensive 

 wooded dells of the mountains or the wild cliffs on the sea 

 shore, where it can nestle undisturbed and yet be within 

 reach of places abounding with the large birds and small 

 quadrupeds on which it feeds. But it is one of those birds 

 that flit before the progress of cultivation, and hence it never 

 builds and is rarely seen in the Lowlands of Scotland, and 

 more rarely in England. In inland places it builds in the 

 forests, and is generally found near these, because krge birds 

 are much more abundant there than on the open wastes. 

 The remains of the natural pine forests, on the east part of 

 the Grampians between the Dee and the Spey, in Strathglass, 

 and in some of the glens that open into the line of the Cale- 

 donian canal, are the favourite inland haunts of the gos- 

 hawk. It is probable, also, that the extensive artificial 

 plantations in Athol, Moray, and other places, may have 

 brought it back, though not in great numbers. Where the 

 gos-hawk abounds, it is very destructive to mountain game, 

 especially in close-time, when it kills the old birds, and the 

 broods perish. The gos-hawk is docile, and not difficult to 

 train. It was on this account called a "gentil" falcon, at 

 least in some of its plumages. Though its action is not so 

 grand as that of the falcon, there is a great deal of stir and 

 energy about it, and it is nowise inferior as a "pot-fowler" if 

 the ground for it be judiciously chosen. The gos-hawk is 

 found in the wild parts of most countries, with the exception 

 of low marshy ones. 



THE SPARROW-HAWK (FalcO 



Though this hawk is bold and daring enough to come near 

 the house for the purpose of killing sparrows, yet sparrows 



