THE OOLOGIST. 



151 



wlicrc to roinc fur their I'ccd, ;iii<l were 

 ;i (Treat deal tamer tliaii a j^reat many 

 eliickeiLs are. Tlie last winter wi- were 

 oil the farm, Ave fed seventy-six. Tu 

 see sueh a lloek eating their breakfast, 

 and liear their ehatter of (U'ligiit. is a 

 sight never to he forgotten. 



1 have not the slightest doubt l)ut 

 with ])atienee and eare they ean ])e do- 

 nieslicated and taught to go in a houst' 

 to roost . 



IMiss L. 1. C\, 

 Riehmond, Ind. 



Red-tailed Hawk. 



Butco borcalis ((t.m1';i,.) 



This l)ird is a eomnion resident 

 tliroughout tlu' yeai' in this locality and 

 one of the most familiar sounds from 

 t'arly si)ring till midsummer, is its weird 

 ery as it slowly sweeps in majestic cir- 

 cles high above the timbered Ifottom 

 lauds or gra.s.sy pi'aiiies in search of 

 their favorite food, thnber rats and 

 lield mice. This much slandered bird, 

 known in every state in the Union as 

 the "hen-hawk," is ruthlessly shot and 

 l)oisoned by young and old whenever 

 the <>pj)ortunit.y is presented, simplj' 

 Ijeeause his smaller and much l)older 

 cousin, Accipiter cooperi, makes jiis 

 meal of i)oultry oecasionuUy. I have 

 Iteen a close observer of the local i'V^/- 

 coniddc for several years, and although 

 I have on several occasions seen the 

 C(jopers Hawk dash into the ])arn-yard 

 and lieav away a chicken or young duck, 

 I ha\ cr yet seen Butco take ])oultry of 

 any kind, although he may do this in 

 other localities. 



The Red-tailed Hawk is almost in- 

 varial)ly seen in jiairs througliouf the 

 year. During the latter part of Fel)ru- 

 ary and first March they conline them- 

 selves almost exclusivel}- to the vicinity 

 of the nest Ihey had used the i)revious 

 year ami by ISIarch bl they have coui- 

 pleted tlieir set of eggs. If tliey are 

 left uudisturl)ed the young will a})pear 



ilm-ing the second week in April. They 

 are large, awkward, helpless things and 

 remain in tliuuest for four of live weeks, 

 or until they are full grown and full 

 Hedged. From the time the young a])- 

 pear until they leave the nest, the ])ar- 

 ent birds are untiring hunters and the 

 amount of rats mice, etc., that they 

 bring to feed the ravenous crew is sur- 

 prising. 



Within a radius of a few miles of uiy 

 home are least seven nests of this bird 

 that Jiave been occupied annually for 

 years, and apparently they never change 

 owners. They are invariably placed in 

 the highest trees in the immediate vicin- 

 ity, without regards to variety, for I 

 have found them in oak, elm, bass and 

 sycamore, the distance from the ground 

 varying from 50 to 80 feet. There is 

 very little variation in the build or ma- 

 terial used in these nests. They are 

 usually about 30 inches in diameter hy 

 20 inches in depth on the outside and 

 only slightly hollowed on top, compos- 

 ed of dead branches of the size of one's 

 thmnb, interwoven with smaller twigs. 

 They are usually lined with shreds of 

 grapevine bark, but some have only a 

 few twigs of cedar, and others are par- 

 tially lined with cornhusks. 



Davie gives the ntunl)er of eggs in 

 set as generally three, sometimes two 

 or four. Size 2.40 by 2.00. Goss in his 

 work on Kansas birds, gives number of 

 eggs in set three or four, size 2.30 by 

 1.84. My observations do not exactly 

 agree with those gentlemen, although 

 they were undoubtedly correct as far as 

 their localities are concerned. During 

 the last tAvo seasons I have taken tAvo 

 sets of Butco borealis, tAVo sets of three 

 each and fiAe sets of two. I also cliud)- 

 ed up and examined three other nests 

 whose contents I did not disturb. One 

 contained tAvo eggs, the others each 

 contained tAVo young l)irds. From these 

 observations I have come to the c(m- 

 clusion that in this locality two eggs is 

 I the usual complement, occasionally 



