Gould described the Goshawk as a stealthy hunter; it did not hover like a kestrel, or soar like the falcons, but sat motionless in a leafy tree scanning its surroundings, and at the sight of a hare, partridge, or any other small mammal or bird, sneaked 'upon its prey in a most artful manner'.

The illustration shows an adult female, two-thirds life-size, and a young bird in the distance.

DISTRIBUTION: Breeding distribution circumpolar, in Eurasia, northwest Africa; North America, and central Mexico. Winters south to north Africa, Arabia, central India, north part of southeast Asia, Taiwan, Bonin Island; south to north Mexico and southern United States. Exterminated in Britain by the late nineteenth century, with only sporadic breeding thereafter. Recolonised from the mid 1960s, largely from escaped or released birds, and estimated to be over 200 pairs in 1988