THE TRUE GOSHAWKS (Astur).
These are represented nearly all over the world, every country having one or more species of the genus Astur, excepting the continent of South America, which possesses only two kinds, both of them rare and of limited range. More than thirty different species of the genus have been described, and they present great differences in size and style of coloration, their habits varying equally, according to the strength and power of the birds; but they are all remarkable for a very sturdy bill, and thick-set legs and sharp talons. A Goshawk may always be told by the latter characters, and by its short toes, which are perhaps smaller in proportion to the size of the bird than in any other group of the birds of prey.
These birds, and the Sparrow-Hawks, have very short wings, and have not the same power of flight as in the true Falcons, which are long-winged birds; and hence, in the old days of falconry, they were never considered of such value as the Peregrine in the chase. They were also called Hawks of the “fist,” as they were flown at game from the hand, instead of soaring down on the quarry from aloft.
THE GOSHAWK (Astur palumbarius).
This is the largest and most powerful of all the genus, as it is also the best known, being found all over the northern parts of Europe and Asia. It used to be of more frequent occurrence in Britain formerly than it is now; and although it can only nest in this country on the rarest occasions in the present day, the author was introduced to an old gamekeeper on the Marquis of Huntly’s estate at Aboyne, who perfectly remembered the Goshawk breeding regularly at Glentanner. A young bird is still captured now and then in autumn, one of the last instances being that of a young male, who was captured in an area at Hampstead, on the 3rd of August, 1872, and is now in the British Museum.
It will feed on nearly every kind of bird and animal that it is able to catch, and in falconry it is principally employed to take Hares and Rabbits; it will also take Pheasants and Partridges, a great number of these latter birds being killed by the Goshawk in its wild state. It is able to pursue its quarry with great dexterity through a wooded country, and it possesses great powers of abstinence, so that, if its prey escapes into cover for the time, the Hawk will often wait for its re-appearance, and will generally exhaust the patience of the quarry, and succeed in capturing it. During the daytime it remains solitary in dark fir-forests, and comes out to feed in the morning and evening. The nest is often a huge structure, being added to year by year; and an immense nest is figured in Professor Newton’s “Ootheca Wolleyana.” Some idea of the size may be gained from the story told by Mr. Wolley, who climbed up to one that was placed a good height up in a large Scottish fir, and when he stood on the same branch with the nest, the latter still reached several inches above his head, so that the building of this nest had probably been the work of several years.
The old birds are alike in plumage; but the female, as is the case with all Goshawks, is larger than the male, measuring about two feet in length, while the male does not exceed twenty inches; the wing also, which is about twelve inches in the male, exceeds fourteen in the female. The colour is grey, the head black, the sides of the face white, streaked with black lines; below, the under surface of the body is white, barred across with black cross-bars of ashy-brown; the under tail-coverts are white; quills and tail ashy-brown, the tail feathers tipped with white; cere yellow; bill bluish; iris orange. The young birds differ considerably from the adults, being rufous below, with longitudinal streaks of dark brown; the upper surface is brown, all the feathers being margined with reddish-white.
GOSHAWK.
In North America, a bird very similar to the Goshawk takes its place; and a third species of the same group is found in Madagascar only. It is, however, principally in the Malayan Archipelago that the greatest number of species occur, nearly every island possessing a Goshawk peculiar to itself.