THE GOSHAWK. 
37 
hand, to let fly at any game that might he raised ; which 
was usually pheasants, partridges, quails, or cranes. In 
1269, Marco Paulo witnessed this diversion of the emperor, 
which probably had existed for many ages previous. The 
falconers distinguished these birds of sport into two classes, 
namely, those of falconry properly so called, and those of 
hawking ; and in this second and inferior class were included 
the Groshawk, the Sparrow-hawk, Buzzard, and Harpy. 
This species does not soar so high as the longer-winged 
Hawks, and darts upon its quarry by a side glance, not by 
a direct descent, like the true falcon. They were caught 
in nets baited with live pigeons, and reduced to obedience 
by the same system of privation and discipline as the falcon. 
A pair of these birds were kept for a long time in a cage 
by Buffon ; he remarks, that the female was at least a third 
larger than the male, and the wings, when closed, did not 
reach within six inches of the end of the tail. The male, 
though smaller, was much more fierce and un tameable. They 
often fought with their claws, but seldom used the bill for 
any other purpose than tearing their food. If this consisted 
of birds, they were plucked as neatly as by the hand of the 
poulterer ; but mice were swallowed whole, and the hair and 
skin, and other indigestible parts, after the manner of the 
genus, were discharged from the mouth rolled up in little 
balls. Its cry was raucous, and terminated by sharp, reite- 
rated, piercing notes, the more disagreeable the oftener they 
were repeated, and the cage could never be approached with- 
