240 CLASS AVES. 



hoarse and frequent, builds its nest in the largest trees, and the 

 female lays four or five eggs, a bluish white, with brown stripes 

 and spots. 



The goshawk is often taken with cloths which are used for 

 taking larks, or sometimes, by placing in a space surrounded 

 by four nets, a white pigeon, on which the goshawk precipi- 

 tates himself Very frequently he does not attempt to dis- 

 engage himself until he has devoured his prey. Falconers, 

 according to Belon, prefer, for the purposes of training, the 

 goshawks which are brought from Greece, which are not so 

 indocile as the individuals procured in the Alps and Apen- 

 nines. The goshawks being birds of low flight are employed 

 in the chase of partridges, pheasants, ducks, wild geese, hares, 

 and rabbits. The principal care of the trainers, independently 

 of what we have stated under the head of falconry, is to feed the 

 young goshawks by the hand with the flesh of fowls, to ac- 

 custom them to the noise of horses, to expose them every 

 morning to the sun, to make them hunt only when the heat 

 is not too strong, sheltered from the wind, and giving them 

 time to watch the partridges and intermit their own pursuit on 

 the wing. They must not be kept too long without making 

 them fly, and those which hunt lowest are the best. When the 

 trainers wish to teach them to hunt wild ducks, they commence 

 with tame ones. Then they take them to some pond or river 

 where the wild ducks are found, and the moment the latter 

 take wing, the goshawk darts upon them, and seizes the most 

 lazy. For rabbits, after the bird has been accustomed to see 

 them, they take him morning and evening through some 

 warren, and he shoots equally on all he sees. 



Particular care must be observed, in the education of the 

 young goshawks, not to make them too well acquainted with 

 hens and pigeons ; for this being an easy chase, they would 

 speedily destroy all the poultry-yards and dove-cotes in the 

 neighbourhood. 



But few birds appear really to belong to the genus of the 



