THE MUSEUM. 



231 



They would dive at the head of my 

 climber, uttering their shrill but rather 

 feeble cry, and at times were so fierce 

 that he had to stop and strike at them 

 with his hat to prevent them from 

 striking him. This set of eggs is the 

 earliest I have record of, and if it 

 takes these birds four weeks to hatch 

 their eggs, as it usually does the larger 

 Hawks in the north, they must have 

 been laid before April ist. They 

 usually commence laying about the 

 middle of April, and I have found 

 them sitting on their nests from that 

 time until the ist of June, being the 

 latest date I ever remained in Florida. 

 Most of them have their eggs laid by 

 the middle of May. One nest which 

 I saw these birds building was desert- 

 ed for three or four weeks and then 

 reoccupied, but whether or not by the 

 original pair, I do not know. 



"The second nest was taken 7 miles 

 northeast of San Mateo, Florida, April 

 14, 1888, and contained two fresh 

 eggs. It was also situated in the ex- 

 treme top of a slender pine, in every 

 respect an exact counterpart of the 

 one that held the first nest. The dif- 

 ference in the height of the two was 

 less than a foot. As nearly as I could 

 judge about three-fourths of the nests 

 of this species found by me were about 

 the same distance above ground, /. r., 

 they were 90 feet, and the remainder 

 from a little above that height to 125 

 or 130 feet. The birds to which the 

 second set belonged were not so pug- 

 nacious as the owners of the first, but 

 they made a great fuss, and soon had 

 four others of the same species with 

 them to see what was going on, and 

 these seemed as much concerned at 

 the disturbance of the nest as the 

 ow^ners themselves. They w^ere less 



fierce than the first on account of their 

 eggs being fresher, for, like all birds, 

 they exhibit more anxiety just before 

 and just after the eggs are hatched 

 than at any other time. The nest of 

 this pair was composed of large twigs, 

 Spanish moss, and pine needles, lined 

 with green moss and small twigs. 

 The earliest date on which I found 

 thisspeciesbreeding was April 5, 1891, 

 when I took a set of two eggs, 8 miles 

 southeast of San Mateo, Florida. 

 Both eggs were rather smaller than 

 the usual size and also lighter colored. 

 One had been incubated for about a 

 week, the other was fresh. The nest 

 was situated in the extreme top of a 

 slender pine, 86 feet from the ground. 

 Both parents made much ado, flying 

 down at my climber from above at an 

 angle of about 45 degrees. The call 

 note of this species sometimes sounds 

 very much like the '/>ret, pcet, of the 

 Spotted S&ndpiper. 



"I think both parents assist in in- 

 cubation, and that but one brood is 

 raised in a year. In Florida, like the 

 Bald Eagles, they nearly always nest 

 in pine trees and in the tallest they 

 can find, but, unlike the latter, which 

 always select trees of the greatest di- 

 ameter, they choose the very slimmest. 



' 'They usually breed in wild unin- 

 habited locahties, but, except in re- 

 gard to their nests, they appear to 

 have but little fear of man, and are 

 often to be seen flying around among 

 the houses of the small villages in 

 this vicinity. The places resorted to for 

 breeding are the low lying pine woods, 

 and the nests are usually built in trees 

 that grow in ■ or near the cypress 

 swanps,so common in these situations. 



"The Sw^allow-tailed Kite has a 

 peculiar way of leaving its nest, for 



