62 FALCONHXafi. 



the island of Sphacteria, where the peregrine falcon also presented 

 itself. The small size of the F. tinnuncuhides readily marks its species 

 to the ornithologist, with whom it at once becomes a favourite, and 

 courts his attention almost like a pet bird. 



THE GOSHAWK. 



AsUir palumbarius, Linn, (sp.) 

 Falco „ „ 



Cannot be included in the Irish Fauna with certainty. 



Mr. Templeton, in his MS., remarked under " Goshawk :" 

 " I have seen a young one, got at the rocks of Magilligan, county 

 of Londonderry," and " a specimen [is] in the Dublin Museum." 

 He noted also, under " Gentil Falcon" (another name for the 

 same species), "on the 25th of July, 1809, I saw at Carrickfergus 

 a stuffed specimen that had been shot at the Gobbins." 



I have no doubt that the peregrine falcon,* a bird to which 

 both the names just used have occasionally been applied, and 

 that still breeds at the Gobbins, is here meant. It likewise is 

 probably the species alluded to, as at Magilligan, for nowhere are 

 there rocks better suited to its eyrie. When I visited the loca- 

 lity, in the summer of 1833, the common buzzard had a nest 

 there. It is not stated where the specimen in the Dublin Muse- 

 um was obtained. 



Bird preservers have told me of goshawks, killed in Ireland, 

 having been sent to them to be set up, but the species has neither 

 been seen by myself, nor by any of my correspondents throughout 

 the island. It is not, however, by any means improbable that the 

 bird may be an occasional visitant. 



* For the peregrine falcon being called goshawk, see that species, p. 48, foot- 

 note. The latter term is applied by the peasantry and others, (who should be better 

 informed, to any of the larger Falconida?, such as the common buzzard, &c. 



