157 
THE GOSHAWK. 
Astur palumbarius Bechstein. 
PLATE X. 
Falco palumbarius of authors Astur Briss. — L’Autour of 
the French Goshawk of British ornithologists. 
A detailed account of the habits of the Gos- 
hawk, written from observation, is yet a deside- 
ratum in the history of British birds. None of 
our modern writers have seen the bird in its 
native haunts, and there is little more detail in 
the works of the more ancient naturalists, when 
it was supposed to be more abundant. The 
districts of the Dee and of the Spey are always 
mentioned as the parts where this bird is most 
abundantly found, but it is undoubtedly rare 
even in these wild wooded regions. Lowe again 
mentions it as occurring in the Orkneys. In 
England it is still more uncommon, and it seems 
curious, that when not unfrequently met with in 
France, it should pass over, as it were, the south 
of Britain, and appear again at the extreme north. 
