Goshawks 



261 



narily when the nesting season arrives they select as a nesting site the abandoned 

 nest of a Crow, one of the larger Hawks' nests, or a squirrel's nest, or when all 

 these sources fail they may build a home of their own. They do not seem to have 

 especial preference for any variety of tree, nor do they place the nest at any great 

 height from the ground, for in the West where there is a scarcity of suitable 

 timber the nest may be no more than ten feet up. The number of eggs ranges 

 from two to six, four or five being more common. 



The European Sparrow-Hawk (A. nisus], which belongs to the same group 

 as those just described, was once a common bird throughout the British Islands, 

 but on account of its depredations on the game preserves has been greatly de- 

 pleted in numbers. It is widely distributed over Europe, northern Asia, and the 

 Indian peninsula, and is abundant in India, where, as in other parts of its range, 

 it is tamed and taught to take Partridges, Sand Grouse, and other similar birds. 

 Another Indian species, known as the Besra Sparrow-Hawk (A virgatus"), has the 

 breast and flanks so suffused with rusty as to nearly or quite conceal the bars. It 

 is also used in hawking, and is regarded by the native falconers as superior in 

 speed, courage, and endurance to the last-mentioned species. 



The Goshawks (A slur] are very numerous in species, no less than sixty-three 

 having been described, from practically the entire world, North America laying 

 claim to three forms, the best known being the American Goshawk (A. atrica- 

 pillus), which ranges over the northern and 

 eastern portions of the continent and comes 

 south in winter to the Middle States and the 

 southern Rocky Mountain region. The male 

 is about twenty-two and the female about 

 twenty-four inches in length, in adult plu- 

 mage being clear bluish gray or plumbeous, 

 with blackish shaft-streaks above, the top of 

 the head black with a white line over and 

 behind the eye, and white below, the breast, 

 belly, sides, and flanks being marked with 

 irregular, wavy bars of slate-grayish, while 

 the tail is crossed by about four dusky bands ; 

 the young are dusky grayish brown above, 

 the feathers margined with buff, and whitish or pale buff streaked or spotted 

 with blackish below. Trim, alert, and vigorous, the Goshawk is "the boldest 

 and by far the most destructive of the North American Raptores, infinitely 

 more injurious to our game birds, and the poultry yard as well, than any other 

 species. Notwithstanding its comparatively short wings, its flight is powerful 

 and swift; it is strong and active in body, shy and keen-sighted, savage and 

 bloodthirsty in disposition, a veritable terror to all smaller birds, and more 

 than a match for others considerably larger than itself. It loves to destroy 

 life for the sake of killing." BENDIRE. Fortunately it breeds mainly to the 

 north, coming south only in winter, else it would be a terrible scourge to the 

 poultry raiser. In the Yukon River region it feeds principally on Ptarmigan, 



FIG. 83. European Sparrow-Hawk, 

 Accipiter nisus. 



