admirable, too, were their delicately penciled markings. 
That they served not merely to adorn the bird but also 
added immeasurj^ably to his general interest and impressive¬ 
ness was unmistakable. 
Q-oshawk . Fnen, early in April, I went to October 
Farm, Burbank informed me that a large Haw'k had frequented 
it during the latter part of the preceding winter and 
twice, to his knowledge, had approached the poultry yard 
closely, thereby occasioning much alarm among our fowls. 
Shortly after this I found,in brush-grown places within 
or bordering extensive woodla.nds, feathered remains of no 
less than four Ruffed Grouse, all of which had been killed, 
plucked and devoured — to the very last fleshy morsel — 
evidently by some large bird of prey who had voided its 
chalky white excrement freely over more than one of the 
spots where it had feasted so sumptuously. That it was a 
Goshawk can scarce be doubted, for on April 16 I had a 
glimpse of what looked very like one flying over Birch Field 
and on the 19th fully identified a very large female, also 
on wing a.nd follov/ing precisely the same line of flight as 
the first. As she passed me within 60 yards, in full sun¬ 
light and a little below the tops of the taller trees, I 
could see that she was not fully mature, the "blue" of her 
upper parts being somewhat tinged with brownish and her 
