Concord, Mass.
1906.
Nov. 27
(No 2)
  When I walked the farm to-day Mr. James told me that
Henry Lawrence shot a large Hawk last Saturday (November 24)
and that it fell in our poultry yard. I went to the Lawrence's
after dinner and was shown the bird which had been thrown into
a wagon in the barn on top of a load of cow fodder. As I had
suspected might prove to be the case it was a Goshawk, a fine
female in fully adult plumage. I bought it for fifty cents and
brought it home to be mounted by Nelson. Henry Lawrence gave
me the following account of the circumstances attending its capture:
About noon he heard a great outcry from the poultry which were
scattered along the road leading past the house. The next instant he saw
that a large Hawk had seized a full grown rooster which he was
vainly attempting to carry off. Lawrence rushed into the house for his
gun and returning to the road found the Hawk in the same place
standing on the ground, close to a stone wall, watching the rooster who
lay on his belly motionless but with his head raised and evidently
still alive. As the two birds were only a foot or two apart Lawrence
hesitated about firing lest he might injure his rooster. He kept moving
nearer under cover of the wall until he was close to the Hawk
when he shot at its head but missed. At the report the Hawk rose
and Lawrence fired again wounding the bird so badly that it
flew only about one hundred yards dropping dead in our
poultry yard, as I have said. Lawrence tells me that he
shot a Goshawk seven years ago on one of the farms half a mile
or so up the road when it was chasing some hens. It was very
fearless paying no attention to him as he hurriedly approached it
in an open field. The rooster seized by the bird which he
killed last Saturday is not only still alive but apparently
fast recovering from its injuries. I visited the spot where the
Hawk caught it and found the ground thickly strewn with
its feathers. It was a grey & white bird of the Plymouth Rock breed.