FALCONIDJE. BUTEO BOREALIS. 23 



The Buteo borealis constructs a large nest, composed externally of coarse sticks and 

 twigs, and lined with dried grasses, moss, and leaves, built for the most part in the 

 fork of a lofty tree. The eggs are usually four in number. 



The egg represented in Plate II. fig. 16, was obtained near Salem, Mass. It was 

 fully identified, the parent bird having been shot from her nest. It varies somewhat 

 in its shape from any of the eggs of this Hawk that I have yet met with, being 

 pyriform, and one end much more pointed than the other. It measures 2-ro inches 

 in length by Irs- in breadth. Its ground color is a yellowish white, which is par- 

 tially intermixed with, rather than covered by, a large number of purplish spots and 

 blotches. These faint purplish markings are found in all of the eggs of this Hawk 

 that I have seen, but in this one are more than usually frequent. Over these pre- 

 vail irregular collections of blotches and markings, of unequal size, of a light shade 

 of Dutch umber. This egg was presented me, several years since, by the Salem 

 Natural History Society, now known as the Essex Institute. 



That given in Plate II, fig. 17, is a larger egg, measuring 2iV inches in length 

 by Iff in breadth. It also varies in the color of its secondary markings from any 

 Eed-tailed Hawk's egg that I have seen. Its ground color is a yellowish white, 

 intermixed here and there, but sparingly, with obscure markings of a dull purplish. 

 Over the entire surface of the egg is diffused a light tone of brown, most nearly 

 approaching a burnt umber. If examined with a powerful magnifying-glass, this 

 color appears to be distributed in small granulations, prevailing over the whole egg, 

 but predominating at the smaller end, and only there assuming anything of the 

 character of blotches or confluent spots. This egg is almost an exact ovoid, and one 

 end is only slightly smaller than the other. It was taken in Bethel, Vermont, from 

 a nest which contained three young birds. When received in Boston, the chick 

 was alive in the egg, and upon an opening being made in the shell, several days after 

 it Avas taken, the young Hawk Avas quite lively, made repeatedly an audible noise, 

 and lived half an hour after its premature and iinnatural delivery. 



An egg obtained in Danvers, Mass., by Augustus Fowler, Esq., 1 an accurate and 

 observing ornithologist, is represented in Plate II, fig. 17 a. It is almost spheroidal 

 in its shape, and neither end is perceptibly smaller than the other. It measures 



1 The following observations in regard to the habits of this Hawk, as noticed by Mr. Fowler, are 

 extracted from a letter by that gentleman, dated Danvers-Port, December 25, 1856 : 



"This species of Hawk (Buteo borealis) usually begin to build their nests about the first of April. 

 They select some tall tree near the middle of the woods, the branches of which form a crotch near its 

 trunk. To this chosen spot the female carries a sufficient quantity of sticks for its outside, (the male 

 taking no very active part in the matter,) and for its inside she uses the bark from the dead branches of 

 the chestnut, which she beats and pecks to pieces with her bill, making it soft and pliable, or gathers the 

 fallen leaves of the pine, or some other soft material, which she finds conveniently, as a lining, which 

 is about one inch in thickness ; it is 13 inches in diameter from outside to outside, and 7 inches in 

 diameter on the inside, while its depth is 2 inches. The female usually lays five eggs, which are 

 spherical, of a dirty-white color, and marked with large blotches of brown ; on some they cover almost 

 the whole egg, while others are marked mostly on the large end, and some even of the same litter are 

 so faintly marked as to appear almost wholly white. They are 2 inches in length, and If inches in 

 diameter." 



