354 THE GOSHAWK 



A French writer says that the Goshawk is still used 

 in Persia in hunting the gazelle, and that it is trained 

 to feed on that creature's beautiful eyes by placing its 

 food in the empty eye-sockets of a stuffed gazelle, so 

 that when used in the hunt the Goshawk stops its victim 

 by attacking and tearing out its eyes a horribly cruel 

 form of sport. 



Keats writes : 



" O Sorrow ! why dost burrow 



The lustrous passion from a falcon-eye?" 



and Young : 



" Pride, like hooded hawks in darkness soars 



From blindness bold, and towering to the skies." 



" Mark the gay squadron through the copse descending 

 The greyhound with his silken leash contending 

 Wreathed the lithe neck ; and on the falconer's hand 

 With restless perch and pinions broad depending, 

 Each hooded goshawk kept her eager stand." 



Burns says : 



" Swift as a gos drives on a wheeling hare." 



In the young bird the underpart is clay colour with 

 narrow cross stripes and large longitudinal flecks. The 

 iris golden-yellow; feet sulphur yellow. Claws strong 

 and sharp. The adult has a narrow white line about the 

 ear coverts and the eye ; upper parts ash-brown ; four 

 broad dark b'ars on the tail ; underparts white, thickly 

 barred with ash-brown; cere, iris, and legs yellow. 

 Length of the male 20 inches; of the female 23 inches. 



The large nest of the Goshawk is composed of hard 

 twigs. The eggs, usually four, are pale bluish-grey, 

 but later they become dirty greenish-yellow, and some- 

 times have a few rusty or olive markings. 



