AUSTRALIAN GOSHAWK. 
scarce afield, it will come into Broken Hill, and has been repeatedly known 
to kill tame birds in private gardens, and to take canaries out of their cages 
under a verandah. A bird of this species killed several Silver Gulls {Larus 
novoehollandice) which were kept as pets at liberty in a garden. This 
Goshawk is dreaded by all smaller birds, and unlike the Falcons, which kill 
in the air, and from whom a bird in a bush or thicket is safe, the Goshawk 
will pursue a bird through the thickest bush or scrub with lightning-like 
rapidity, and often take young birds from the nest. . . . Nesting commences 
early in September, eggs being usually found about the middle or end 
of the month ; three is the usual clutch, four occasionally, and often only 
two. The bird is wary^ and flushes from the nest on anyone coming within 
sight or hearing, slipping off through the timber with a gliding flight which 
would, perhaps, escape notice but for the cries of alarm set up by all the 
small birds in the neighbourhood.” 
D’Ombrain {Emu^ Vol. IV., p. 125, 1905) recorded: “My note about 
this Hawk {Astur approximaris) is made from two young ones which I had in 
captivity. I was trying to train them for hawking, but found them too wild 
to stand having the hood on. When chained near each other they fought 
continually, and at last the female, getting her chain loose, attacked her mate, 
and killed and ate him. Like the rest of their genus, they spend a lot of their 
time watching their prey to find the most favourable moment for striking. 
Pieces of food thrown in the air to them were always caught in the talons 
before they reached the ground. The iris of the eye in the young is at first 
merely a pale whitish colour, which gradually deepens to a bright lemon-yellow 
as they mature.” 
Berney’s notes from North Queensland {Emu, Vol. V., p. 16, 1905) read: 
“ The Goshawk is not uncommon ; it is a short-winged and round- winged 
bird, the latter being caused by the first two primaries, of which the first is 
much the shorter, being considerably less in length than the next three, 
which are much of one length. I never see it soaring or manoeuvring in the 
open sky ; it trusts rather, when on the hunt, to rapid movements in open 
timber, darting here and there between the trees and sweeping round 
bushes on the chance of taking its prey unawares. If once its intended 
victim gets properly going I doubt if it ever pursues. Between times it sits 
motionless in the foliage of a tree, watching and listening like a gamekeeper 
at the corner of a copse.” 
Miss Cheney, in the Emu, Vol. XIV., p. 203, 1915, wrote from Victoria : 
“ This species was frequently seen around haystacks, looking for mice and 
lizards. It was very common, and was certainly responsible for the deaths 
of many small birds. The Red-backed Parrot, in particular, is attacked by 
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