158 
GOSHAWK. 
We never saw the bird upon the wing, and 
have therefore to regret our inability to add any 
thing important to its history. A young male, 
shot we believe near Dalkeith, is the only Scotch 
specimen we ever saw in a fresh state. This was 
brought to the late Mr Wilson, janitor to the 
Edinburgh University, and was probably sold at 
the dispersion of his collection. In 1820 we saw 
two newly killed females brought to a bird pre- 
server in Paris. One of them was purchased, 
and serves for our present description ; both had 
been trapped, and at that period they were not 
very uncommon in the collections of the dealers. 
There seems to be no well authenticated instance 
of this bird having occurred in Ireland. 
From all that we can gather, the Goshawk is a 
sylvan species, living and hunting much like the 
Sparrowhawk. The nest is described as built on 
trees, placed near the trunk, and composed of 
sticks loosely put together. It lays from two to 
four eggs, according to the second edition of 
Temminck, blueish white, marked with streaks 
and spots of brown ; but in the supplement, 
published in 1835, greenish white, without mark- 
ings. In distribution, we consider this species 
as confined to Europe. We have never met with 
an extra European species, and those which we 
have examined from America, under the title of 
Goshawk, were undoubtedly distinct, and the 
