92 



ORISITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 13-No. G 



witli my iK'iglitiois. Accordingly I left luy 

 gun at home, and only supplied myself with 

 plenty of boxes, full of cotton, to receive the 

 eggs I expected to get. 



Well, I traversed those woods east to west, 

 from north to south, and I followed branches 

 and peered into thickets, but I only found two 

 old nests, and the scarcity of bird life was 

 simply appalling. At last, however, as I was 

 walking along a branch aud had completely 

 lost my beaiings, and was wondering which 

 way to get out of the place (as I was heartily 

 sick of it), there came a flapping of wings as 

 some large bird flew up flora the hillside on 

 my right. I turned and caught a glimpse of 

 a large black bird through the trees, which I at 

 once recognized as a Turkey Buzzard {Cathar- 

 tes aura). 



Thinking it might possibly have a nest near 

 by, I turned my attention to the slope it had 

 tlown uji from, and as I was looking about for a 

 suitalile situation for the nest, my glance fell 

 on a good-sized pine log which had evidently 

 lain there for several years. I immediately 

 hurried thither, and a search soon revealed the 

 desired nest (?) if a bare spot from which the 

 bird had scratched away the dead leaves and 

 other rubbish, could be so called. Here, re- 

 posing on the bare ground close to the fallen 

 l)ine, lay the two large eggs, one handsomely 

 marked with large distinct spots and splashes, 

 on a clear w hite ground, the other dirty look- 

 ing, with splashes, small spots, and dots 

 which obscured the ground color. Hastily 

 packing up the eggs, I retired from the nest, as 

 it smelt too unsavory, and the murky odor of a 

 Buzzard is not pleasant. On leaving the place, 

 I presently discovered the old bird on the lower 

 limbs of a large pine some seventy feet from 

 the ground, w^alking backwards and forwards, 

 drooping her wings and giving vent to a harsh 

 wheezy sound as if she was a confirmed asth- 

 matic. 



Additional Notes on the 

 ■Winged Hawk. 



Broad- 



Bl' GEO. G. CANTWELL, MINNEAl'OLIS, MINN. 



It was with great interest that I read the ex- 

 cellent article of ,J. W. Preston's in the February 

 O. & O. on theBroad-U'inged Hawk. His notes 

 agree exactly with the habits of the bird in this 

 vicinity, where it is quite common. 



As far as ray experience goes, I have always 



found the nest in the immediate vicinity of a 

 lake or marsh, and never, as some say, " in 

 tall trees," the highest, I believe, was about 

 thirty feet, and one was so low I removed the 

 eggs while standing on the ground. On May 

 15, 1880, I also took a .set of four eggs slightly 

 incubated, the eggs in this set were curiously 

 marked, one having very large bright blotches, 

 two of the average type, while the other was 

 destitute of spots of any kind. 



Here the favorite nesting is a small red oak, 

 with a convenient crotch, formed by the spread- 

 ing of the largest limbs, and never among the 

 smaller ones as in the case of some hawks. 



The collector does not have to leconnoitre 

 around two or three hundred yards to get a shot 

 at a Broad VVing, but can walk deliberately up 

 to within easy range aud collect his bird. 



Last summer, one allowed ine to approach so 

 near him that I killed it with a stone fiom a 

 "sling."' They are beyond doubt the least sus- 

 pecting of all our hawks. 



Here the lining of the nest is a mixture of 

 fragments of bark and small buds and leaves. 

 Nests found late in the season contain a large 

 amount of green leaves, resembling a squirrel's 

 nest. As Mr. Preston says, I have on several 

 occasions seen the birds gathering sticks from 

 the ground for the nest. 



Let us hear from other localities on the hab- 

 its of this hawk, it will surely be interesting, 

 as the habits of a bird vary greatly according 

 to the locality. 



Estray Notes. 



BV H. B. TAVt.OK, ALA.MEDA, CAL. 



Early in April, while stopping at Sargent's, 

 on the Pajaro liiver, which separates Santa 

 Clara from San Benito County, I heard early 

 everj' morning the cheerful drum-beat of sev- 

 eral species of Woodpecker, among which I no- 

 ticed Gairdner's, Nuttall's and the Red-bellied. 



Nuttall's Woodpecker, the rarest of the three 

 species, was to me a special object of interest, 

 particularly one superbly dressed fellow which 

 I saw one day perched on the top of a tree, and 

 if I should tell what Mr. Woodpecker was doing, 

 I fear I might be met with very incredulous 

 looks from some observers, but as even an 

 amateur ornithologist must be truthful, it be- 

 comes incumbent upon me to say that that in- 

 dustrious collector of entomological specimens 

 was — singing! 



You will say that a Woodpecker should have 



