ASTUR PALUMBARIUS .
Goshawk.
Falco gentilis, Linn. Faun. Suec., p. 20.
palumbarius, Linn. Faun. Suec., p. 23.
gallinarius, Gmel. edit. Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 266.
albescens, Bodd. Tab. PI. Enl., p. 25.
Astur palumbarius, Bechst. Tascbenb. Vög. Deutschl., tom. ii. p. 268.
gallinarum, Brehm, Vög. Deutschl., tom. i. p. 83.
Accipiter astur, Pall» Zoog. Rosso-Asiat., tom. i. p. 367, tab. 11.
----------- palumbarius, Jenyns, Man. Brit. Vert. Anim., p. 85,
Buteo palumbarius, Flem. Hist. Brit. Anim., p. 54.
Dadalion palumbarius, Savig. Obs. sur le Syst. des Ois. d Egypte, p. 94.
T h e many instances on record of the breeding and capture of this truly noble species o f Hawk in the midland
and eastern counties of England and in Scotland, preclude its being regarded as one of our rarer birds ; at
the same time how difficult would it be to say with certainty when and where it may be seen with ns m a
state of nature ? A pair or more, if fortunate enough to escape the vigilance of the keeper, may this year
establish themselves in a suitable locality, breed, and rear their young; the next, a similar attempt would be
rendered futile by their destruction; and a somewhat lengthened period may elapse before others arrive from
the great nurseries of France, Germany, and Scandinavia,
According to M r. Rodd, the Goshawk has not been killed in Cornwall; and the late Mr. Thompson informs us
that it “ cannot be included in the Irish fauna with certainty; ” yet it would seem, from the writings of some
old authors, to have been formerly common in the northern part of that country. In Scotland it formerly
bred regularly in the forest of Darnaway, and in that of Glenmore, near Grantown, on the Spey; and
it may still do so. In 'T h e Ibis ’ for 1865, Mr. A. G. More says:—"M r . Tottenham Lee states,
in Dr. Morris’s ‘Natu ralist' for 1853, that a pair once took possession of a Raven’s nest in Roxburghshire,
and that he had heard of another nest in the same county. Mr. Robert Gray, of Glasgow, who knew
Mr. Lee, tells me that he was perfectly familiar with birds of prey, and was not likely to make a mistake as
to the species. .
“ Macgillivray appears to have met with the Goshawk occasionally among the Grampians ; and Montagu
quotes Colonel Thornton as having obtained a young one from near the Spey, and as having seen some
eyries in the forest of Glenmore and Rothiemnrchus. Mr. W. Dunbar also writes that, when be was a boy,
it • used to breed regularly in the woods of Castle Grant, and in Abemethy and Dulnane forests.’ ”
Other instances o f f § occurrence in Britain have been mentioned by writers on our native birds, many of which
are probably authentic. The Rev. F. O. M orris records one in Yorkshire, two in Suffolk, one in Norfolk, four
in Northumberland, and one in Surrey. Dr. Moore states that it has been occasionally found on Dartmoor,
in Devonshire ; and Mr. Stevenson informs us, in his j Birds o f Norfolk,’ that it appears occasionally in that
county both in spring and autumn, but at uncertain intervals, and that it has o f late years become more scarce
than formerly ; and lie subjoins a list of some seven individuals that had been killed therein.
I have myself had the pleasure of handling in the flesh two of the finest specimens o f this bird I have ever
seen • one o f these was killed on the 24th of January, 1859, at Somerleyton, in Suffolk, by a keeper
of S ir S Morton Peto, Bart.; the other, which was submitted to my inspection by M r. B.Leadbeater on the
29tl. of March, 1864, had been shot a t Normanby Park, Brigg, Lincolnshire, on the 24th of that month.
The Suffolk bird was killed while I was on a visit to Sir Morton Peto, and was placed in my hands immediately
after it was shot. It was a female o f the previous year, ju st commencing to change its feathers,
weighed two pounds fourteen ounces, and, although an immature example, the lengthened lanceolate
markings of the breast greatly pleased me. I t had been seen in the neighbourhood for some time
previously; and the keeper had more than once shot a t and slightly wounded i t ; notwithstanding, it did not
become shy, but evinced a degree of intrepidity very unusual among birds of prey, almost daily leaving the
woods and flying skulkingly up the lanes to the farm steadings, just overtopping the buildings, and pouncing
down upon a hen or poult as opportunity s e rv e d - th e great scurry, consternation, and cackling of the
mother hens bringing the housewife to the door ju st in time to see one of her feathered charges taken over
the wall ■ once too often, however, was the foray made; for the keeper was in waiting and shot the culprit
This fine bird has been carefully preserved, and, I believe, is still at Somerleyton Hall, now the property of
Sir Francis Crossleyi Bart.