134 Game Falcons of New England: The Goshawk. [March, 
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.” 
The goshawk is the most daring and venturesome of any of our 
diurnal birds of prey. A farmer who resides a few miles from 
my office, wishing to perpetuate the old New England custom 
of having a chicken pie for Thanksgiving dinner, caught some 
fowls, took them to a log, severed the neck of one, and threw it 
down beside him. In an instant a goshawk seized the struggling 
fowl, and, flying off some ten rods, alighted and commenced de- 
vouring his prey. The boldness of the attack so astonished the 
farmer that he looked on with blank amazement. Recovering 
from his surprise, he hastened into the house and brought out his 
gun, which secured him both the hawk and the fowl. Another in- 
stance of still greater daring occurred near East Windsor Hill, 
Conn. A goshawk flew after a fowl near a dwelling-house ; the 
door being open, the hen flew inside ; the hawk followed, and seized 
her in the room occupied by an old gentleman and his daughter. 
The old man hastened to the rescue, and struck the hawk with 
a cane before it released its grasp. The daughter caught the 
hawk as it attempted to fly out of the door, and killed it. 
When looking for prey it skims along near the surface of the 
ground with great velocity, and catches its game so quickly and 
easily as scarcely to be seen by the looker-on. The female is 
nearly one third larger than the male, and the young measures 
considerably more than the adult bird. I have specimens of the 
goshawk of all ages from the young to the adult, but am not 
aware that it is known when this bird arrives at adult plumage. 
I have kept the young in confinement until one year old without 
its showing the least tinge of gray or slate-color. No one but an 
ornithologist would ever suspect that the young and the adult be- 
longed to the same species. . 
With regard to the nest of this bird, says Audubon, “ The 
goshawk is of rare occurrence in most parts of the United States, 
and the districts of North America to which it usually resorts to 
breed are as yet unknown. Some nest within the Union, others 
in the British Provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, but 
the greater part seem to proceed farther north.” ‘The nest is 
said to be quite large and flat, and placed on the high branches 
of a tree, near the trunk, and is composed of dead twigs and coarse 
grass, lined with fibrous strips of plants, and sometimes with a 
few feathers. The goshawk lays from three to four eggs, usually 
