1876.] Game Falcons of New England: The Goshawk. 183 
of the United States, but Cassin informs us that “it is appar- 
ently more abundant in Northwestern America than in any other 
portion of the United States.” His opinion was based upon the 
fact of six specimens being captured by the Pacific Railroad sur- 
vey parties in Washington Territory and Shoal Water Bay. It 
may have been abundant that season and not seen there again 
for many years. Professor Verrill says that “it is common in 
Maine, and breeds there.” Mr. G. A. Boardman, of Maine, says, 
“It is the boldest and most common of our winter hawks.” 
Some winters it is abundant in Connecticut, and the most com- 
mon of our hawks, and then for years not a single specimen is 
seen, The first specimen which I obtained in East Windsor was 
in the winter of 1849-50. He was caught in a trap and brought 
to me alive. I gave him his liberty in a room eight feet by 
twelve feet, with a good supply of food, which he utterly refused 
to touch until.the thirteenth day, when he devoured an entire 
hen, and died the next day, a victim to his voraciousness. The 
next that I received were two specimens in the winter of 1859- 
60. Nuttall speaks of its being very rare in Massachusetts ; yet 
in 1859-60 Hon. C. L. F lint, of that State, received twenty 
specimens. It did not visit us again until the winter of 1867- 
68. That season I mounted five specimens and sent away 
quite a number for exchanges. I probably received some twelve 
or fifteen during the winter. In the winter of 1868-69 I re- 
ceived nine, and in 1869-70 two specimens. Since 1870 none 
have been taken or seen in this section, and it may not visit us 
again for another decade. 
The goshawk does not usually soar high, like the longer-winged 
hawks, nor dart upon its prey by a direct descent, as do the true 
faleons, but by a side glance. It is restless, seldom alighting 
ut for a moment, except to devour its quarry, and then it stands 
almost erect.. Its flight is so rapid that it can easily overtake the 
Swift pigeon on the wing. Audubon relates the following fact 
that he was an eye-witness to: “ While traveling along the 
Ohio I observed a goshawk give chase to a large flock of crow- 
blackbirds then crossing the river. The hawk approached them 
with the swiftness of an arrow, when the blackbirds rushed to- 
gether so closely that the flock looked like a dusky ball passing 
through the air. On reaching the mass, he with the greatest 
“ase seized 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 
