218 Kansas Academy of Science. 



may be found any day in the river-bottom perched on some 

 lone tree. 



One day while following a hollow to its head an interesting 

 sight greeted my eye. In an old nest about forty feet from the 

 ground stood a spectre of a bird. At first I thought it was a 

 young owl, it stood so silent and watchful. By tossing stones 

 into the surrounding branches I caused it to move, then an- 

 other smaller one appeared. I could see then that it was a 

 brood of hawks. Anxious to obtain one of the old birds for 

 identification, I lay in wait for half an hour when the mother 

 swooped down and perched on a neighboring tree. A charge 

 of shot wounded her in the wing, bringing her to the ground. 



I started to climb the tree, when one of the young ones 

 flew from the nest into another tree. Fearing lest it should 

 escape, I quickly killed it. I climbed the tree again ; but this 

 time, as I was about to reach the nest, the other one tried to 

 fly, but succeeded only in skimming its way like an aeroplane 

 to some branches near by, where it clung head down until I 

 relieved it some ten minutes later. The nest was built very 

 much after the fashion of a crow's nest, being made of coarse 

 sticks. It was placed forty feet from the ground, in a tree 

 which stood at the base of a ridge where two hollows met. 

 Within a radius of seventy feet were four old nests, appar- 

 ently having been used by this same pair on previous years. 

 This was certainly an excellent nesting site, being concealed 

 on all sides but one by trees growing close together. I had 

 passed this place at least three times before but had not seen 

 the nest. The position was in the center of their hunting- 

 ground, with the hills and valleys on one hand and the clear- 

 ings on the other. 



Examination of the stomachs showed that the old bird had 

 eaten a number of fig-eaters while the young bird contained 

 parts of a blacksnake. This hawk is Buteo latissimus. 



The fauna of this region is very diverse. The winters are 

 so mild that hibernating animals live in the most favorable 

 conditions. This is on the borderland of the South, and like- 

 wise shares in the fauna of both the Northern and Southern 

 states. It is an excellent place for the study of animal dis- 

 tribution. We need to know more of regions of this kind. 



