it probable that the nest alluded to in the above letters 

 was built by the Gos-Hawks ; but as this is the latest 

 recorded instance within my knowledge of a pair of these 

 birds having been observed in company in England, I 

 have given the full details of the occurrence as commu- 

 nicated to me. I may mention that Normanby is within 

 a short distance of Brigg, in North Lincolnshire. 



The Gos-Hawk is a forest-loving bird, and, in my 

 experience, is especially addicted, though by no means 

 exclusively confined, to coniferous districts in the breed- 

 ing-season ; in most of its habits, as in general form 

 and adult plumage, this bird closely resembles the 

 Sparrow-Hawk, but it has a very decided taste for 

 mammalian " quarry," which is not apparently shared in 

 by its smaller congener. A hungry Gos-Hawk will, as 

 falconers say, " go at anything " that offers a chance, 

 from a hare to a field-mouse, or from a Capercailzie to 

 a Hedge-Sparrow, and, although its performances in a 

 trained condition are, from a sporting point of view, 

 hardly worthy of mention in comparison with those of 

 the true Falcons, it cannot be denied that in very many 

 parts of England a good Hawk of this species would 

 keep the pot boiling for a family, who would starve if it 

 had to depend upon captures made by the nobler bird. 

 Failing a country adapted for Falconry in the restricted 

 sense of the term, a good and well-trained " Gos " will 

 afford a certain amount of sport and plenty of exercise 

 to her owner ; but the manners and customs of this 

 species in a state of servitude to man have been so 

 enthusiastically set forth by a far more able and expe- 

 rienced "Licensed Hawker" than myself in a most 



