134 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXVII. 



clanger. 1 have found this species sitting on a rock 

 on the edge of a plateau, far above the limit of trees, 

 waiting for a covey of snow-patridges to come out 

 and feed among the rocks. They are trapped in 

 large numbers during the late autumn, in long verti- 

 cal nets stretched along ridges, where small game is 

 plentiful. These nets, or rather a succession of them, 

 cover very often a mile or more of country and vary 

 from 10' to 15' in height, 



They are erected much in the same waj'- as a tennis 

 net but the lower end forms a bag into which the 

 victim falls and remains there luitil the men visit the 

 nest and take it out. Another method adopted to 

 catch this species is by means of three vertical nets 

 each about 7' x 6' x o'. They are erected to form 3 

 sides of a square and a pigeon placed in the centre. 

 The man in charge hides opposite the open side of 

 the square, whence he makes the pigeon flutter 

 by pulling a string, when a hawk is seen. 



This is a most efl'ective trap for hawks generally, 

 and placed on the top of a knoll, is visible for miles 

 around, and will attract a Goshawk from very long 

 distances. 



This species, though it does most of its hunting 

 among trees, may often be seen circling at great 

 heights. In the Himalaj'as, hawks will generally be 

 found to soar late in the morning or early in the 

 afternoon. Seldom in the middle of the day, 

 early morning or late evening, and if watched it 

 will be seen that a bout of circling on steady 

 pinions is almost invariably followed by a few 

 quick beats of the wing. 



The short rounded wings and the long, projecting 

 tail, proclaim the members of this and the next genus 

 from afar, and though I have found falconers who 

 can differentiate, at a glance, between a sparrow 

 hawk and a shikra, I am afraid I have never suc- 

 ceeded in being able to place them /or certain. 



The Goshawk, if disturbed during the day, drops 

 from his perch to within a couple of feet of the 

 ground and flies low and fast until it approaches the 

 tree it intends to alight in and then rises almost 

 vertically into the branches. 



This species, together with the Hodgson's Hawk- 

 Eagle does more damage among game birds than 

 perhaps all the other birds of prey combined. Their 

 numbers appear to be on the decrease and I have 

 questioned several men who have the right to erect 

 nets for them, and they all say that they seldom get 

 more than half a dozen .in the year where 16 to 20 

 used to be caught a couple of decades ago. 



On one occasion, while in camp in the Simla Hills, 

 I had a most extraordinary experience with one of 

 these birds. It was late in November and we had 

 had an early fall of snow on the hills. My camp 

 was situated in a valley with a fringe of deodars on 



