BIRDS. 163 
pensity of seizing from the head and flying away with the 
red caps of the peasants ; and so alert was it in whipping 
them off, that they found their heads bare without know- 
ing what was become of their caps : it even treated the 
wigs of the old men in the same way, hiding its booty in 
the tallest trees. 
THE GOSHAWK (Falco, or Astur palumbarius ,) 
Breeds in lofty trees in Scotland, and destroys a great 
quantity of small game, which he seizes with his sharp 
and crooked talons, and carries to his nest, He is some- 
what larger than the common buzzard, of the falcon tribe ; 
his bill is blue, and there is a white stripe over each eye : 
there is also a large white spot on each side of the neck. 
The general colour of the plumage is deep brown ; the 
breast and belly white transversely streaked with black ; 
and the legs yellow. Buffon, who brought up two young 
Goshawks, a male and a female, makes the following ob- 
servations : " The Goshawk, before it has shed its feathers, 
that is in the first year, is marked on the breast and belly 
with longitudinal brown spots ; but after it has had two 
moultings they disappear, and their place is occupied by 
transverse bars, which continue during the rest of its 
