598 



the peasant's stick, and will dash down on his prey though close to any person, and is quite 

 regardless of being shouted at. If caught and caged together with its young, it will, when 

 impelled by only moderate hunger, kill and devour these latter. When an Eagle Owl is tethered 

 out to attract birds he will attack it with such ferocity that it is not unfrequently possible to 

 catch him alive. It hunts over a considerable district, and will range a full German mile round 

 the place where its nest is, usually hunting quietly amongst the trees and bushes." To this I 

 may add that I have known several instances of a Goshawk following a sportsman, when the 

 latter is shooting in a wooded country, keeping carefully out of view, and, when opportunity 

 offers, pouncing on and carrying off a wounded bird. Mr. Lloyd, the well-known bear-hunter, 

 records a similar instance as follows : — " On one occasion I had shot a brace of Partridges, right 

 and left. Whilst reloading, something passed close by my ear with the rush of a whirlwind ; 

 and on looking up I saw a Goshawk in the very act of pouncing on one of my birds that was 

 lying dead within less than thirty paces of where I stood, and which, to my no small mortifica- 

 tion, it bore triumphantly away in its talons. Similar instances of the daring of the Goshawk 

 are not at all uncommon. At times, indeed, it will ' stoop ' to a hare under the very nose of the 

 gunner, of which more than one example is on record." 



Mr. Eobert Collett informs me that " in years when the lemming (Myodes lemmus) is 

 numerous in Norway the Goshawk destroys large numbers of these animals ; but it makes the 

 greatest havoc amongst the game birds ; and as it usually inhabits the edges of the forest, it preys 

 both on the old and young of the Blackgame, Hazel-Grouse, and Wood-Pigeons, as well as on 

 Partridges. It is well known that the northern limit of the breeding-range of the Partridge is 

 near the Trondhjemsfiord, in Norway ; and it is curious that in some seasons they are numerous, 

 whereas in others they are almost wanting: it is my opinion that this is caused less by the 

 severity of the winter than by Goshawks ; for in a locality where there are a tolerable number 

 of Partridges, a single Goshawk will kill one after the other during the winter until it extermi- 

 nates them. It also frequents our towns. One summer a Goshawk took up his quarters during 

 the day-time on the top of the highest spire in the town, and from this elevated perch it made 

 regular raids on the Pigeons with impunity." 



In the ages when falconry was the favourite sport with our gentry, the Goshawk was not so 

 much thought of as the true Falcons, and Sir John Sebright goes so far as to say that he never 

 could understand how any one could use these birds for sport ; but in the East the Goshawk is 

 greatly esteemed, and Colonel Delme Kadcliffe, a high authority on falconry, says that " the 

 Goshawk is not to be despised when they get into real good working order and are kept in very 

 high condition ; they are very swift, and will follow a bird and kill at a much greater distance 

 than would be imagined by those who have only seen them flown at hares, rabbits, and Pheasants 

 in England." Some interesting notes respecting the Goshawk are given by Mr. Thompson 

 (Rough Notes, pp. 114-116), which I transcribe as follows: — 



" Several are caught on the high peaks of Josheemat, Tomynaut, Tuppobund, &c. during 

 October and November, when it would appear that the birds leave their snow-girt valleys and 

 betake themselves to others lower down and free from snow. The traps consist of vertical nets 

 six feet high, of stout thread, enclosing three sides of a square, and open at top. In the centre 

 a Pigeon is tied to the end of a small stick, which, again, is fastened by the other end to a peg in 



