58 American Birds 



nish ideal homes for these birds of prey. Their chosen 

 sites are out-of-the-way positions where they are safe from 

 human interference. The red-tail is perhaps commonest 

 about the hills and In the valleys of California, where it 

 builds In the scattered oaks. Almost every little cafion 

 along the central coast region Is occupied by a pair of 

 these birds. Their nests are easily found In the early 

 spring by scanning the trees for a mile up the hillside with 

 a field-glass. The abundance of these hawks is due to the 

 large supply of natural food they find about these regions. 

 Squirrels, moles, and other rodents are very plentiful, and 

 the hawks help to keep In check these pests that are such 

 enemies to the farmer. If It were not for the birds of 

 prey, the balance of nature would surely swing very much 

 against those who till the soil. 



A red-tail likes a high, commanding site for a nest, 

 just as a mallard searches the sedge grass about a pond 

 for a home, and the pair of hawks In the cottonwood had 

 surely found it. We schemed for three different summers, 

 after we found this aerie of the red-tail, before we finally 

 succeeded In levelling our camera at the eggs. The nest 

 tree measured over fourteen feet around at the bottom. 

 There was not a limb for forty feet. The nest itself was 

 lodged just one hundred and twenty feet up. It was out 

 of the question to clamber up such a tree with climbers, 

 ropes, or anything else, but we had another plan. 



We had spotted a young cottonwood just fifteen feet 

 away. This might serve as a ladder, so we chopped at 

 the base till It began to totter. With ropes we pulled It 

 over. The crown lodged in the branches of the first large 

 limb of the nesting tree, full forty feet up. This formed 



