FLORIDA RED-TAILED HAWK 179 



undergrowths of low-growing saw palmettos, with their curious, half- 

 buried root-stems trailing along the ground, form large and almost 

 impenetrable thickets. Many shallow grass-lined ponds and open 

 grassy savannas are scattered through them. The soil is mostly 

 sandy, but in many places it is rich enough to support a luxuriant 

 growth of shrubbery and many beautiful wild flowers. To the casual 

 observer a drive through such an endless, bewildering maze of pines, 

 stretching away into the dim distance, becomes monotonous and 

 tiresome. But I can share the sentiments so well expressed by Dr. 

 Charles T. Simpson (1923) : 



There is a nameless charm in the flatwoods, there is enchantment for the 

 real lover of nature in their very sameness. One feels a sense of their infinity 

 as the forest stretches away into space beyond the limits of vision ; they convey 

 to the mind a feeling of boundless freedom. The soft, brilliant sunshine filters 

 down through the needle-like leaves and falls in patches on the flower covered 

 floor ; there is a low, humming sound, sometimes mimicking the patter of rain- 

 drops, as the warm southeast wind drifts through the trees ; even the loneliness 

 has an attraction. To me it all brings a spirit of peace, a feeling of content- 

 ment ; within the forest nature rules supreme. 



Nesting. — I have examined only two nests of this hawk, in two 

 quite different situations (pi. 52). "VVliile driving over the Kissimmee 

 Prairie, near Bassinger, Fla., on March 21, 1925, we saw a large nest 

 about 40 feet up in a lone cypress that stood near a small cypress 

 hammock. The tree was heavily draped with Spanish moss. We 

 could see the tail of the sitting hawk projecting over the edge of the 

 nest, and its mate was perched on a nearby tree. As I climbed to the 

 nest the old birds attacked me, screaming vigorously; one nearly 

 struck me in its swoops. The nest was made of large sticks, lined 

 with fine twigs, grasses, straws, and gray moss ; it measured 40 by 27 

 inches in diameter and was 18 inches high. It contained a pipped 

 Q.gg^ a recently hatched young hawk, and the remains of a young 

 cottontail rabbit. 



The other nest, found on February 15, 1930, in Glades County, was 

 fully 60 feet from the ground in the topmost crotch of a big long- 

 leafed pine (pi. 52) ; the tree towered above the tops of all the sur- 

 rounding trees in open flat pine woods, and the nest could be plainly 

 seen from the road at a long distance. The nest was made of pine 

 sticlis and twigs, deeply hollowed and profusely lined with dead and 

 green pine needles ; it measured about 24 inches in diameter, the inner 

 cavity being 10 inches wide and 4 or 5 inches deep. The hawk flushed 

 off the nest but did not offer to attack me while I was collecting the 

 two eggs. Both parent birds were secured. 



Mr. Fargo has sent me some notes on some large nests that he 

 found in Pasco and Brevard Counties, some "nearly as large as bald 

 eagles', but wider than high. All the nests seen were in some tree 

 where a good outlook was to be had at the loss of hidino; the nest. 



