THE GOSHAWK. 



Astuy paliimbarius (Linnseus). 

 Plate 34. 



This forest-loving species is now only a rare visitant to Great Britain, a few, for 

 the most part immature birds, occasionally reaching this country, generally in the 

 eastern parts. 



Colonel Thornton, in his Northern Tour published in 1804, states that he had 

 seen nests and obtained a nestling from the old pine forests of Rothiemurchus 

 and Glenmore, showing that the Goshawk bred a little previous to that date in 

 the Spey district. 



In Europe it frequents wooded country from Lapland and Russia southwards 

 to the Mediterranean, and eastwards to the Caspian Sea. 



The nest is built by the bird itself, high up in some tree on the edge of the 

 forest, and is composed of sticks and twigs, and often occupied by the same birds 

 for many successive years, and as material is annually added, it frequently attains 

 a great size. The four eggs are very pale bluish-green, occasionally showing 

 spots of reddish-brown. 



The Goshawk, which resembles its diminutive relative the Sparrow-Hawk, is 

 bold and predatory, and has a curious wild expression in its eye. It preys on 

 squirrels, hares, rabbits, as well as on game and other birds, and is much esteemed 

 as a trained bird by falconers, being well adapted for work in an enclosed country. 

 Though the male is superior to the female in speed, he is much inferior in size and 

 strength, but both have great courage and show an almost incredible lust for 

 killing. 



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