THE OOLOGIST. 



107 



and our babies devoured by the same 

 arch-criminals who had murdered our 

 other family. After this last sad exper- 

 ience, my mate became sick and never 

 rallied, dying of a broken heart ten 

 days after her babies were destroyed. 

 Soon after her death, 1 left the scene of 

 my many troubles for the beautiful 

 southland, where I am at this time wan- 

 dering around in a siate of loneliness 

 bordering upon despair, and waiting 

 the welcome time when I shall join my 

 wife and family in our future home. 



Hawk Notes— Oological- 1899. 



Marsh Hawk. May 19th was the 

 day I had appointed for exploring a 

 marsh where I expected to find nests of 

 the above named species. After some 

 time I finally Hushed a female Hawk off 

 her rest, out of a clump of small will- 

 ows where the water was several inches 

 deep. The nest contained only two 

 eggs, desiring full and complete sets 

 only, I moved on, as a full clutch gen- 

 erally contains five eggs and an egg 

 being deposited every alternate day. 

 I calculated the set would be complete 

 about the 25th. My time being limited 

 I soon turned homeward without any 

 further find of interest. 



Next day, this being the 20th, I set out 

 in another direction for sets of the same 

 species, found a nest on a piece of wild 

 rough upland right in a clump of small 

 willows, but this contained only one 

 €gj?- Again 1 made a hasty calculation 

 and set tne day to return on the 27th. 

 Making a few notes in my book, I mov- 

 ed on, found a nest of Cooper's Hawk, 

 but that will come under its own head- 

 ing. 



Well on the 25th according to figura- 

 tion I yisited nest No. 1 and found 

 Madam Hawk at home. After coming 

 within five yards of the nest she flew 

 up revealing five bluish-white eggs, no 

 markings whatever upon them. Nest 

 situated in several inches of water sur- 



rounded with small willow bushes. 

 Composed of sticks coarse weed stalks, 

 brier stems, etc. on top of which was a 

 quantity of grass. Nest measured 16 

 inches across with a depression of 2i 

 inches. 



The 27th following was the day set 

 for collecting set No. 2, but something 

 unexpectedly turned up and T was de- 

 layed until the 30th. On which day I 

 might have been seen making tracks 

 for the Hawk's nest. 



When I came to within ten rods of 

 the nest, the male came to meet me cir- 

 cling and crying overhead. As I drew 

 nearer he would now and then swoop 

 down at me with loud cries as if to 

 drive me away. The female soon flew 

 off the nest, I suppose she knew by his 

 cries of alarm that something awful 

 was coming. She now joined her mate 

 and the two came at me with x'enewed 

 force, they would swoop and dive un- 

 pleasantly close to my head while I was 

 examining the nest. 



This also held five eggs; hastily pack- 

 ing them securely and taking all neces- 

 sary notes I took my departure as quick 

 as possible. This nest was constructed 

 of brier and weed stalks, coarse grass 

 and roots, on top of which was an 

 abundance of dry grass. In color the 

 eggs are white with a tinge of blue and 

 very faintly marked with light brown 

 spots and stripes detected only on close 

 examination. 



The eggs of this species have fre- 

 quently been described, with markings 

 of different colors upon them. |I have 

 collected in this region for the last six 

 or seven years and have examined up- 

 wards of a dozen sets from this locality 

 and the last described set is the only 

 one, that was marked in any way, and 

 that is very faint. From four to six 

 eggs is the complement, five, however, 

 is the general rule, while four or six are 

 only occasional. 



333 Cooper's Hawk. On May 20th 

 after finding the second nest of the 



