184 BULLETIN 16 7, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



was found in 1926, a lapse of 45 years, during which time the nest 

 was found 29 times. The hawks were seen or heard in the woods for 

 two years longer, but in 1930 a pair of red-tailed hawks moved in 

 and that ended the record of this pair. 



The "Dighton big woods" pair has shown the longest record, a 

 lapse of 47 years, but its early history is much broken and we havo 

 actually found the nest only 15 times. We found the first nest in 

 1886 and for 4 years in succession. The main tract of heavy chestnut 

 and oak timber was cut soon after that, so we did not hunt the 

 locality again until 1909. From that time on we found them, when- 

 ever we hunted for them, in an adjoining tract of oak woods that 

 was growing up to respectable size. Here we found them every year 

 for the 8 years, 1927 to 1934, and we hope they will continue to nest 

 there. I believe that all these pairs, or their successors, have nested 

 continually in all these localities. The breaks in our records are 

 mainly due to our failure to visit all the localities every year, though 

 in many cases there has been much shifting about, due to extensive 

 cutting in different parts of the woods. My field companion, Mr. 

 Day, has the records of two pairs, near Boston, for 37 years each, and 

 the "Weld farm" pair, which he found from 1909 to 1923, is said to 

 have nested in that tract as far back as 1872. Fred H. Kennard 

 (1894a) gives an interesting 10-year history of four pairs of hawks 

 in Brookline, Mass., and vicinity, including the Weld farm pair, 

 which is well worth reading. 



I have already exj^lained the distributions of the red-tailed and 

 red-shouldered hawks in southeastern Massachusetts under the for- 

 mer species, the latter being much commoner in what I call the hard- 

 wood region. Here the red-shouldered hawk shows no very decided 

 preference for any particular species of tree, but usually selects one 

 of large size. Of 177 nests in the hardwood region 49 were in chest- 

 nuts, 46 in red oaks, 26 in white pines (usually scattered among the 

 hardwoods), 19 in white oaks, 15 in swamp white oaks, 13 in scarlet 

 oaks, 8 in maples, and 1 in an ash. Certain pairs seem to prefer to 

 nest in pines, even where suitable hardwoods are available. Of 41 

 nests in the white-pine region, 31 were in pines, 4 each in beeches and 

 red oaks, and 1 each in a maple and a chestnut. The heights from 

 the ground varied from 20 to 60 feet ; 27 were 30 feet or less, 36 were 

 50 feet or more, and a majority were between 35 and 45 feet. Very 

 few of the nests were actually in swampy woods, although many 

 were in the dry parts of woods near swamps or streams; but some 

 were in high, dry woods, far from any water. 



In a hardwood tree the nest is usually placed in the main fork of 

 three or more branches, seldom on horizontal branches against the 

 trunk and very rarely in the fork of a branch. In a pine tree it is 

 almost invariably on three or more branches against the trunk. Mr. 



