168 



THE OOLOGIST. 



Western Red-tails. 



According to Mr. Dunn's excellent 

 article in April Oologist two is an un- 

 finished set of the Western Red-tail. 

 Although not far apart this locality 

 seems somewhat different. I have in 

 my collection five sets of two of this 

 Hawk. All were well along in incu- 

 bation when taken. 



April the 9th of this season ('05) I 

 and a young friend started for a nest 

 of a Red-tail, which I had observed 

 some months before while out hunting 

 about five miles back into the mount- 

 ains. It was rather late for Hawks 

 but had been unable to go before on 

 account of heavy rains. The day was 

 cloudy and misty, a good sign of more 

 rain, but as I had been delayed so long, 

 was determined to risk it any way. 

 After climbing hills until it began to 

 get old came at last in sight of the 

 cliff. On getting closer discovered the 

 nest was the same as when first found, 

 and as no Hawk was in sight conclud- 

 ed she was on the nest. A shot from 

 my revolver and sure enough off came 

 Mrs. Red-tail with a loud scream that 

 brought the old male off from a neigh- 

 boring peak. The nest looked easy at 

 first, but our minds were soon changed 

 about that. About 30 feet up a ledge 

 projected out and upon this the nest 

 was built. As we only had 50 feet of 

 rope the cliff was too high to reach the 

 nest from above. So all there was left 

 to do was to go up from below. 



Cutting footholds on a sandstone 

 cliff is no cinch with only a small 

 pocket knife and a drizzling rain com- 

 ing down on a fellow. But after about 

 an hours work, I was able to help my 

 friend over onto the ledge with the 

 assistance of some solid rocks sticking 

 along the side. "Two beauties," were 

 his first words as he crawled over into 

 the nest. The collecting box was next 

 pulled up on a string and the set safely 

 lowered. 



This nest was a large bulky affair 

 evidently used for a number of years. 

 The two eggs were advanced in incu- 

 bation. One was unmarked while the 

 other was faintly spotted over the en- 

 tire surface with reddish brown. 



Cliffs are the favorite nesting places 

 for the Western Red-tail here and the 

 same nest is used year after year if 

 unmolested. 



Homp:r C. Burt. 

 Santa Paula, Cal. 



Co-operative Nest Building. 



After taking dinner with a friend in 

 town and while sitting on the porch 

 my attention was called to the actions 

 of four or five Sparrows, who were all 

 very busy and noisy in reconstructing 

 a nest that had been torn down in the 

 morning to allow the painters to finish 

 painting over a window. 



We watched them for a couple of 

 hours and they seemed to be as much 

 pleased and noisy over it as people 

 over a house raising. Wishing to see 

 the outcome the next day I examined 

 and found one egg in the nest, need- 

 less to say, and was not again disturb- 

 ed. I think this must have been a 

 case of hurry up, or necessity and 

 neighbours called in to assist. Have 

 you ever heard or know of a similar 

 case of co-operation. I never have 

 noticed the habits of Birds much be- 

 fore, but this set me thinking. 



J. B. LEWIS, 

 Petaluma, Cal. 



Another large set of Hawks. 



In corroboration of Mr. W. K. Hat- 

 ler's statement that he was fortunate 

 in taking a set of 5 Red-tailed Hawks 

 eggs, will say that in the early part of 

 May 1807, while trying to locate a 

 much needed nest of the Broad-winged, 

 I ran across a nest of the Red-shoul- 

 dered Hawk that had somehow escap- 

 ed my earlier visits, and which con- 



