March, 1S93.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



37 



which at first sight I took to be those of a 

 Squirrel, but this idea was soon dispelled 

 when an Owl's head appeared over the edge 

 of the nest, and the bird on seeing me took 

 wing and sailed away. Somehow "Barred 

 Owl" had been running in my mind all day 

 and I was now seized with ^he impression 

 that I had found a Barred Owl's nest, but it 

 turned out to be a Long-eared (Asio ~cil- 

 sonianus ) instead. However, the species 

 was of small importance to me at that mo- 

 ment for I had an Owl's nest an)'way, and it 

 was my first ; so, as may be imagined, I 

 ascended the tree with all possible speed 

 and gazed upon the three downy white 

 Owlets which were all of a different size. 

 This was something of a disappointment, for 

 I was expecting eggs ; but I descended and 

 notified my companion of the find ; he had 

 the gun, and at once turned his attention to 

 securing the old birds, which had both come 

 near me while I was up the tree, and had 

 kept up a distressed moaning. He soon 

 shot the male, and the female, though rather 

 shy after this, came back se\eral times, l)ut 

 we failed to get her. After some discussion 

 involving the humanity of the act, we de- 

 cided to take the young birds for the cause 

 of science ; they are now in Mr. William 

 Butcher's collection. 



Arthur H. Ho-ccll. 



(Continued.) 



Nesting of the Duck Hawk on Mt. 

 Sugar Loaf, Mass. 



Among some of the sets of eggs taken in 

 Massachusetts that can be called rare or 

 valuable to the ornithologist are those of 

 the Duck Hawk {Falco peregriniis ana- 

 tum). There are probably only six places 

 in all New England where this bird can be 

 found breeding, namely, Talcott Mountain, 

 Conn., Mount Holyoke, Mount Tom, and 

 Sugar Loaf Mountain, Mass., Brandon, Vt. 

 and Mount Katahdin, Maine. In the three 

 localities in Massachusetts there is but one 

 pair of the Hawks at a place the same season. 



and as the bird always chooses an almost in- 

 accessible site in some lofty cliff for its eyrie, 

 it is very seldom that the eggs are found by 

 collectors. During the past summer I had 

 the pleasure of finding the eyrie of one of 

 these Duck Hawks on the side of Sugar 

 Loaf Mountain and I have written the ac- 

 count of the same for the benefit of the 

 readers of the " O. & O." 



The Duck Hawks arrive from the south 

 about the last week in March. They come 

 in pairs, and the first to arrive at once 

 choose a nesting place ; then they guard 

 the whole side of the mountain for several 

 weeks before the eggs are deposited, and, 

 so far as I know at present, only one pair 

 occupy a cliff the same season, and they 

 usually choose an almost inaccessible cliff. 



On the 8th of April, 1892, 1 went to 

 Sugar Loaf Mountain and there saw the 

 male and female Duck Hawks. They would 

 fly from one part of the mountain to the 

 other, and always, as they launched out in 

 the air high above the tops of the trees some 

 two hundred and fifty feet below them, they 

 would utter their peculiar screams. When- 

 ever I would keep out of sight for any length 

 of time and then reappear at the edge of 

 the cliff, one of the birds would always be 

 at rest on some rough crag of the rocks, or 

 on a dead stump that projected from the 

 ledge far below. 



I found that they returned near the same 

 place every time, and so came to the con- 

 clusion that the nesting place must be some- 

 where in that vicinity ; but after long and 

 careful observations I was obliged to come 

 away without finding the exact spot, for it 

 was necessary that one should have a long 

 stout rope, by the assistance of which he 

 might climb down the side of the cliff, in 

 order to find the nest. 



I learned, however, that only one pair of 

 the birds was about the place, and that one 

 pair had occupied the mountain as a nest- 

 ing place for many years. One week later 

 I again visited this place in company with 



