THE GOSHAWK. 
29 
killed in JSlietliiiid, es[)ecially in autunin ; but this may easily 
be accounted for by their constant exposure to the damp sea 
mists, both during the time of incubation and while hovering 
about the country in search of prey, the red colours in the 
plumage of most birds being the most liable to fade. 
THE GOSHAWK. 
Astur j)alumharius. 
It cannot be otherwise than gratifying to ornithologists to be 
assured upon such good authority as that of Mr Gray,* that 
although the Goshawk is rarely met with, it is not so exceed- 
ingly scarce in Scotland as was formerly supposed. In 
Shetland, however, it is almost unknown, the only recorded 
instance of its capture having occurred in the winter of 1860, 
when a female was shot at Skaw, in the island of Unst, the 
bird soon afterwards coming into my possession. On my 
showing it to an inhabitant, who had confidently maintained 
that both the Goshawk and the Peregrine Falcon still bred 
plentifully in that very island, he utterly failed to identify it, 
neither could he describe any of the main points of difference 
between the two species. Thomas Edmondston, misled by the 
confident assertions of previous authors, but receiving their 
statements with caution, merely remarks of this species, ‘‘Pare, 
but I believe occasionally breeds,” f and to this Mr Harting 
refers in his useful “Handbook of British Birds.” Messrs 
Baikie and Heddle, however, more than probably have good 
grounds for stating that it is frequently observed in Orkney, 
and that “ apparently some remain during the whole year” — 
the ornithology of the two groups of islands being so widely 
different in many respects. 
In April 1859 I saw one in the rabbit warren in Balta. It 
twice passed close to the spot where I was sitting, and being 
perfectly acquainted with the species in a wild state, as well as 
* Birds of the West of Scotland, p. 37. t Zoologist, 1844, 459. 
