GOSHAWK, 65 
Tur GosHawk is at once distmguished from the Falcons 
by the lobe or festoon, instead of the sharp tooth, on the 
cutting edge of the upper mandible, and by the short and 
rounded form of the wing, which reaches only half way 
down the tail. The Goshawk has also been separated ge- 
nerically from the Sparrow-Hawk on account of its shorter 
and stronger tarsus, which is covered with feathers on the 
upper part; and by the want of the elongation in the 
middle toe, so conspicuous in the genus Accipiter, in which 
genus the Goshawk was formerly arranged. 
Inferior in powers to the Falcons, though equal in size 
to the largest of them, the Goshawk is yet the best of the 
short-winged Hawks; but its habits, as well as its mode 
of flying at its game, are very different: it does not stoop 
to its prey, like the Falcons, but glides along in a line 
after it, and takes it by a mode which, in the language 
of falconry, is called raking. The Goshawk was formerly 
in esteem among falconers, and was flown at hares, rabbits, 
pheasants, grouse, and partridges. It flies fast for a short 
distance, may be used in an enclosed country, and will 
even dash through woods after its prey; but if it does 
not catch the object, it soon gives up the pursuit, and 
perching on a bough, waits till some new game presents 
itself. This habit of taking to a branch of a tree and 
waiting is particularly alluded to by Colonel Thornton, 
formerly of Thornville Royal, who was devoted to hawk- 
ing, and who, in reference to the Goshawk, says, “If its 
game takes refuge, there it waits patiently on a tree, or 
a stone, until the game, pressed by hunger, is induced 
to move; and as the Hawk is capable of greater absti- 
nence, it generally succeeds in taking it. I flew a Gos- 
hawk,” says the colonel, “at a Pheasant; but it got into 
cover, and we lost the Hawk: at ten o’clock next morning 
