Rev. J. R. Lowe—Goshawk and other Birds



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one could have found the time to take her out. She is very obedient to

the lure and has never kept me waiting more than twenty minutes,

and then only once, after missing a rabbit. She works in amicable

concord with my spaniel and a large ferret.


My other Hawk is a Peregrine Falcon. I have only had her a week

or two, but as a trained eyass in 1934, she took sixty-one Grouse, ten

Mallard, and fifteen Cuckoos. So far we are only making friends,

and hers is a very much easier temperament to deal with than the

Goshawk. Last May I saved the lives of two young Sparrow-hawks,

who were about to be done to death by a keeper. These two birds

I trained, and both were taking Sparrows by the end of August, and

were quite steady and obedient to the lure. Unfortunately both

birds came to a sad end. One hung herself in a high tree by a broken

leash, the other appeared to injure herself in pursuing a Sparrow

through a thick bush ; she died a week later.


The season of 1935 from the breeding point of view was not very

interesting here.


A pair of Golden Pheasants were very prolific, the hen laying

twenty-five eggs: twelve young were ultimately raised to the adult

stage, together with four Amherst. It was my first attempt with

Pheasant chicks, and I found them easy to rear, lettuce being a great

help. Any casualties I suffered came from cats. Zebra Finches reared

a few young very late in the season. Two Bullfinch hens, paired to a

Linnet and a Mealy Redpoll respectively, built and laid and sat, but

there were no results. A hen Siskin paired to a Mealy Redpoll

had three fertile eggs and raised two young to a week old, but forsook

them after that. A pair of Indigo Buntings built a nest, but no eggs

arrived, or mice had them. A pair of Cuban Finches built vast nests

all over the place, but stopped then, and a pair of Avadavats nested,

but eggs were infertile. A cock Greenfinch paired to a small Canary

and reared four very dull mules.


A pair of Alexandrians laid two clutches, but no result. The

cock, I am pretty certain, was the failure.


I procured a very rough, sad-looking bird in August. I was told

he was a Blue Mexican Whistling Thrush. He was in a shocking state

when he arrived, no tail, no flights, and very patchy elsewhere, his



