GOSHAWK. 243 



that the flock looked like a dusky ball passing through the air. On 

 reaching the mass, he, with the greatest ease, seized first one, then an- 

 other, and another, giving each a squeeze with his talons, and suffering it 

 to drop upon the water. In this manner, he had procured four or five 

 before the poor birds reached the woods, into which they instantly plunged, 

 when he gave up the chase, swept over the water in graceful curves, 

 and picked up the fruits of his industry, carrying each bird singly to the 

 shore. Reader, is this instinct or reason .'' 



The nest of the Goshawk is placed on the branches of a tree, near the 

 trunk or main stem. It is of great size, and resembles that of our Crow, 

 or some species of Owl, being constructed of withered twigs and coarse 

 grass, with a lining of fibrous stripes of plants resembling hemp. It is, 

 however, much flatter than that of the Crow. In one I found, in the 

 month of April, three eggs, ready to be hatched ; they were of a dull 

 bluish-white, sparingly spotted with light reddish-brown. In another, 

 which I found placed on a pine-tree, growing on the eastern rocky bank 

 of the Niagara River, a few miles below the Great Cataract, the lining 

 was formed of withered herbaceous plants, with a few feathers, and the 

 eo-g-s were four in number, of a white colour, tinged with greenish-blue, 

 large, much rounded, and somewhat granulated. In another nest were 

 four young birds, covered with bufF-coloured down, their legs and feet of 

 a pale yellowish flesh-colour, the bill light-blue, and the eyes pale-grey. 

 They diff'ered greatly in size, one being quite small compared with the 

 rest. I am of opinion that few breed to the south of the State of Maine. 



The variations of plumage exhibited by the Goshawk are numerous. 

 I have seen some with horizontal bars, of a large size on the breast, and 

 blotches of white on the back and shoulders, while others had the first 

 of these parts covered with delicate transverse lines, the shaft of each 

 feather being deep brown or black, and were of a plain cinereous tint 

 above. The young, which at first have but few scattered dashes of 

 brown beneath, are at times thickly mottled with that, and each feather 

 of the back and wings is broadly edged with dull white. 



My opinion respecting the identity of the American Goshawk and 

 that of Europe, is still precisely the same as it was four years ago, when 

 I wrote a paper on the svibject, which was published in the Edinburgh 

 Journal of Natural and Geographical Science. I regret differing on this 

 point from such accomplished ornithologists as my excellent friend Prince 



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