BROAD-WINGED HAWK 241 



wild cherry, basswood, cottonwood, elm, pine, spruce, hemlock, balsam, and in 

 one instance, evergreen vine and swamp grass, in the nest, under and around 

 the eggs or young ; seldom more than one kind of leaf used in the individual 

 nest, though it is frequently renewed. The sprays are broken from the tops 

 of trees and carried to the nest by means of the beak. In rare instances when 

 the leaves have not appeared, green twigs with buds and blossoms attached, 

 have been employed. 



J. H. Eiley (1902), who has watched broad-winged hawks at their 

 nest building, says : "The nest is often finished and left for some little 

 time before eggs are deposited. In building, the birds never seem 

 to be in a hurry, and several days will elapse without apparently 

 anything being done. A few sticks a day, at the most, seem to be 

 the limit of their exertions, and at this slow rate, it takes them fully 

 three to five weeks or more to complete their domicile," 



Eggs. — Two eggs seems to be the commonest number for the 

 broad-winged hawk to lay. I have found twice as many sets of two 

 as I have of three. Four eggs is an unusual number, and incubated 

 single eggs have been found. Bendire (1892) quotes O. C. Poling 

 as saying that sets of four are not uncommon in Illinois and that he 

 found one set of five. Mr. Burns (1911) has been unable to locate 

 this set and doubts it. His data for 406 sets show 15 sets of one, 

 183 sets of two, 190 sets of three, and 18 sets of four eggs, with "a 

 substantial increase in the number of eggs in a set from the south 

 northward." The eggs vary in shape from elliptical-ovate or ovate 

 to nearly oval. The shell is finely granulated. The ground color 

 is dull white, pale bluish white, or creamy white. The color, shape, 

 and size of the markings show endless variations, and many eggs 

 are very beautiful. Some eggs are boldly and irregularly blotched 

 with rich or bright browns, "burnt sienna", "amber-brown", or 

 "chestnut"; some are irregularly spotted or finely sprinkled with 

 these colors, often concentrated at one end or in a ring; others are 

 evenly covered with small spots or minute dots of the same colors. 

 All the above types of markings appear in other paler colors, such 

 as "hazel", "tawny", "cinnamon-buff", "vinaceous-fawn", and "ecru- 

 drab." Some of the prettiest eggs have great washes or splashes of 

 the paler browns or drabs overlaid with blotches or spots of the 

 darker browns. Underljang markings of purple or ecru drabs are 

 so common as to be almost characteristic of the species and some eggs 

 have only such markings. Occasionally an egg is nearly immaculate. 

 The measurements of 51 eggs average 48.9 by 39.3 millimeters; the 

 eggs showing the four extremes measure 54 by 40.5, 50.5 by 42.2, 

 44.5 by 39.1, and 47.2 by 36,3 millimeters. The largest eggs of this 

 species seem to be larger than the smallest eggs of the red-shoul- 

 dered hawk, Mdiich suggests the possibility of some mistakes in 

 identification. 



