22 



THE OOLOGIST. 



the south, is the opposite, except the 

 north-west corner. It is covered with 

 mesquite, which grows abont 15 feet 

 tall, sparsely dotted with live-oaks. 

 The elevation is 600 feet. The next 

 county, Wilson, is like Bexar, except 

 that the greater part of it is heavily 

 timbered with oak, hickory and elm. I 

 have observed but one bird in Kendall 

 countj', and my friend and companion, 

 Arthur H. W. Norton, saw but one pair 

 during a several months' visit in Wilson 

 county; but in Bexar it is very common. 

 Norton states that the pair nested in 

 the neighborhood, but he failed to locate 

 the nest. 



The nests ai'e placed in the scattered 

 live-oaks at an average heighth of thirty 

 feet from the ground. The birds are 

 very partial to "broom-weed" in the 

 construction of nests, and do not use 

 sticks very much. 



How well I I'emember the time in "92, 

 when Norton , who lived five miles south- 

 east of San Antonio, came to school 

 and related that he had taken a set of 

 two eggs of the Mexican Eagle. At that 

 time, I was also a student at the same 

 school. The incubation was far ad- 

 vanced, as the date was March 27th; 

 but Norton worked at them very pa- 

 tiently, and succeeded in extracting the 

 embryos. 



What a thrill went through me when 

 I tirst gazed upon those precious eggs. 

 Then on the 22d and 23d of April, we 

 took two sets of two eggs each, incuba- 

 tion fresh. One of the sets was laid by 

 the same pair of birds, and in the same 

 nest fi'om which Norton took the tii'st 

 set. By the way, I will mention that 

 we called the tree in which that nest 

 was situated the "bee-tree," since a 

 swarm of wild bees had once occupied a 

 cavity in one of its limbs. I cannot ac- 

 count for the otner set. It looks as 

 though the birds were way behind in 

 their domestic duties, or else their first 

 eggs were made way with. I am under 

 the tirst impression. My notes tell me 



that the next set was taken June 10th, 

 incubation far advanced. We were 

 "bumming" around in the brush not 

 far from the "bee-tree," enjoying our- 

 selves and seeing what there was to be 

 seen, when in approaching an old dila- 

 pidated hawk's nest that was placed 

 about twenty feet from the ground in a 

 hack-berry, a Caracara spread forth her 

 pinions and departed. We ran up all 

 excited, and gazed up at the nest. 

 Imagine our surprise when we saw that 

 there was a large hole in the middle of 

 it with a few sticks laid across it, and 

 two eggs plainly visible. 



This was the third set that this pair 

 had laid that season. 



On the 1st of May, Norton found two 

 young bii'ds about four miles south of 

 his place. They were about a week 

 old. Being fond of pets, and thinking 

 he couid raise them, he took them home 

 and installed them in a chicken coop. 

 Contrary to my expectations, they 

 thrived in their captivity and awaj- 

 from a fond mother's tender care. They 

 were fed on rabbits, cactus rats, beef 

 steak and in fact anything in the way of 

 meat. 



In about ten days, they were standing 

 on their feet as well as any bird. They 

 were quite passive in disposition, but 

 were never fond of being handled; they 

 would keel over on their backs and grab 

 at your hands with their claws. But 

 take it all in all, they were mild, little 

 innocent brutes. The most wonderful 

 thing about them was their eating pro- 

 pensities. 



The capacities that those little wretch- 

 es exhibited were truly marvelous. Sad 

 to state, one of them got hold of ayoung^ 

 muscovy duck that had died," and true 

 to his nature, tried to swallow it, de- 

 spite the fact that the duck was about 

 the : ame size as the eaglet. 



The head and neck went down all O. 

 K., but the body would not fit, and so 

 the little glutton kicked his last. An 

 inquest was promptly held on the case. 



