152 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



eggs, and again missed the birds. Tie again went to the nest, several days 

 after, to secure tlic parents, and was much surprised to find tiiat tlie eggs 

 were gone. His first supposition was tliat some other person had taken 

 tliem, but, after looiving carei'ully about, he perceived botli birds at a short 

 distance ; and tliis caused him to institute a search, which soon resulted in 

 his finding tliat tlie eggs had been removed by them to the face of a mudd)' 

 bank at least forty yards distant from tlie original nest. A few decayed 

 leaves had been placed uudrr them, but nothing else in the way of protec- 

 tion. A (bird egg had been added since his previous examination. These 

 facts jMr. MacFarlane carefully investigated, and vouches for their entire 

 accuracy. 



Another nest, containing four eggs, was on the ledge of a slialy cliff, and 

 was comjiosed of a very few decayed leaves placed under tlie eggs. 



"Mr. 11. Kennicott found a nest, June l^, 18(30, in which incubation had 

 already commenced. It w:is about a foot in diameter, was liuilt against the 

 trunk of a poplar, and its base was composed of sticks, the upper parts con- 

 sisting of mosses and fragments of bark. 



Mr. Audubon mentions finding three nests of this bird in Labrador, in 

 each of which there were five eggs. These nests were placed on the top 

 branches of the low firs peculiar to that country, composed of sticks, and 

 slightly lined with moss and a few featlun-s. He describes the eggs as 1.75 

 inches long, and 1.1*5 broad, with a dull yellowish-brown ground-color, 

 thickly clouded witli irregular blotches of dark reddish-brown. One was 

 found in the begiiiiiiiig of July, just ready to hatch. The young are at 

 first covered with a yellowisli down. The old birds are saitl to evince great 

 concern respecting their eggs or young, remaining about them and manifest- 

 ing all the tokens of anger and vexation of the most courageous species. 

 A nest of this Hawk (S. I. 7,127) was taken at St. Stephen, N. B., by ^Ir. 

 AV. F. Hall ; and another (S. I. 15,546) in the Walisatch Mountains, by Mr. 

 Ricksecker. The latter possibly belonged to the var. richardsoni. 



The nest of this bird Ibuiul in Jamaica by Air. Alarch was constructed on 

 a lofty tree, screened by thick foliage, and was a mere platform of sticks 

 and grass, matted with soft materials, such as leaves and grasses. It con- 

 tained four eggs, described as "round-oval or spherical" in shape, measuring 

 " 1..38 by l.lo inches, of a dull elnyish-white, marked with sepia and burnt 

 umber, confluent dashes and splashes, irregularly distributed, jirineipally 

 about the middle and the larger end." Four others, taken from a nest in 

 the St. Johns Alountains, were oblong-oval, about the same size and nearly 

 covered with chocolate and umber blotches. Air. March thinks they belong 

 to different species. 



Mr. Hutchius, in his notes on the birds of Hudson's Bay, states that this 

 species nests on rocks or in hollow trees ; that the nest consists of sticks and 

 grass, lined with feathei-s ; and describes the eggs as white, thinly marked 

 with red spots. In the oviduct of a Hawk wliieh Dr. Bichardson gives as 



