126 



THE OOLOGIST. 



The Giant Cactus as a Nesting- Place 



for the Western Red-tailed 



Hawk. 



The Giant Cactus {Cereus (jigantetis) 

 is the favorite nesting place of the West- 

 ern Red-tailed Hawk in the desert re- 

 gion south of Tucson, Arizona. 



Sahuara is the Indian name for this 

 cactus and is the most used name by the 

 inhabitants of this region. It often 

 reaches a height of forty feet, and on 

 the branches the nests are built. 



The nest is generally built high enough 

 to command a view of the surrounding 

 country, and may be seen for a distance 

 of two miles, or with field-glasses as far 

 as you can see; for this reason it is an 

 easy matter to find their nests, but not 

 so easy to obtain their eggs. 



The position of the nests and the var- 

 iation in the size and markings of six 

 different pairs of hawks may be of in- 

 terest. 



March 16, 1898. Nest in Sahuara, 16 

 feet from ground, made of sticks, lined 

 with small sticks, grass and a few 

 feathers, eggs, 2.32x1.87, 2.28x1.83. In- 

 cubation six days, marked with blotch- 

 es of very light brown. 



March 21, 1898. Nest in Palo Verde 

 12 feet from ground, made of sticks, 

 lined with small sticks and bark, eggs, 

 2.22x1.80; 2.16x1.78; 2.15x1.79. Every 

 egg is marked entirely different in this 

 set, first spotted evenly with brown and 

 lavender, having more lavender than 

 brown: second, blotches and scratches 

 of yellowish brown at great end; third, 

 has three large and several small spots 

 of dark brown. 



March 29,1998. Nest in Sahuara 18 ft. 

 from ground, made of sticks lined with 

 bark and grass; the bird before leaving 

 nest covered up one of the eggs. Eggs, 

 2.25x1.85; 2.23x1.83. Incubation two- 

 thirds, mai'ked with irregular spots and 

 blotches of light and dark brown. 

 April 1, 1898. Nest in Sahuara 6 feet 



from ground, made of sticks lined with 

 bark. Eggs, 2.23x1.77; 2.13x1.74. In- 

 cubation begun . First egg marked with 

 spots and blotches of brown, second 

 with spots and blotches of lavender 

 evenly over whole egg and at small end 

 marked with blotches and scratches of 

 brown. 



April 2, 1898. Nest in Sahuara 12 feet 

 from ground, made of sticks lined with 

 bark, grass and a few feathers. Eggs, 

 2.40x1.81: 2.32x1 90; 2.25x1 79. Incuba- 

 tion six days; marked with blotches, 

 spots and scratches of reddish brown, 

 one egg has all the markings at small 

 end. 



April 10, 1898. Nest in Palo Verde 

 10 feet from ground, made of sticks, 

 lined with bark, leaves and feathers. 

 Eggs, 2.28x1.85; 2.25x1.80. Incubation 

 one-third, first, marked with light and 

 dark brown and lavender, second, with 

 light brown at small end. 



Some nests were over thirty feet from 

 the ground. 



J. H. Clark. 



A False Alarm. 



While out on a ramble recently I was 

 passing near a thicket, when just in 

 front of me in the brush came very dis- 

 tinctly the distress cry of a Robin re- 

 peated several times. A number of 

 robins from the neighborhood came to 

 the rescue, and I, being curious to know 

 the cause of the disaster, walked up 

 close to the brush and looked in. What 

 should I see but a lone catbird sitting 

 on a branch a half a dozen robins hov- 

 ering around her. They, however.soon 

 left and the Catbird hopped about act- 

 ing as if she was really proud of the 

 disturbance she had caused. What 

 could have been the object bf the Cat- 

 bird? D. S. Bullock, 

 Agr'l College, Mich. 



