THE GOSHAWK. 97 



arrow, when the Blackbirds rushed together so closely 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 another, 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 eggs were four in number, of a white 

 colour, tinged with greenish-blue, large, much rounded, and somewhat granu- 

 lated. 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 differed 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 the 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 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 some years ago, when I wrote 

 a paper on the subject, which was published in the Edinburgh Journal of 

 Natural and Geographical Science. I regret differing on this point from 

 such Ornithologists as Charles Bonaparte and M. Temminck; but, after 

 due consideration, I cannot help thinking these birds the same. 



The figure of the adult was drawn at Henderson, in Kentucky, many 

 years ago. That of the young bird was taken from a specimen shot in the 

 Great Pine Forest in Pennsylvania. 



Vol. I. 15 



