78 



THE OSPREY. 



something- throug-h the air quite close to 

 me; on looking- up, I saw what appeared 

 to me to be a huge bird of very bright, 

 white breast and under parts ; making 

 great circles in the air, flapping its wings 

 and then sailing. 



One of these circular movements 

 brought it almost directly over me and 

 within perhaps fifty to seventy-five yards 

 from where I was sitting. Taking my 

 glass, I examined the stranger with a great 

 deal of interest, and at once saw that it 

 was a common Loon. These birds are 

 scarce on this river and I do not think I 

 ever saw one here as late in the spring as 

 this, before or since. 



Mr. Loon circled round, and round, and 

 round, very much after the fashion of a 

 Bald Eagle; rising spirally higher and 

 higher, continuing the flapping of its 

 wings, and the sailing movements until 

 it reached a great altitude. How high I 

 am unable to say. 



To me this was a very remarkable per- 

 formance for a Loon, and I watched it 

 with great care. Finally after it had 

 raised in the air until it appeared but a 

 little larger than a Blackbird, it straight- 

 ened out its wings, and pointing its long 

 neck toward the North Pole, sailed with 

 great rapidity. Ordinarily I have seen 

 Loons flying with a flapping movement 



of the wing-s, but this individual after he 

 had straightened his course for the North, 

 set his wings as "rigidly as a Tyrkey Buz- 

 zard and apparantly at a slight angle, 

 and to my eye seemed to coast or slide 

 down hill, as it were, toward the North. 

 I watched hijn with my glass until he 

 was completely out of sight, and I doubt 

 if I have ever seen a bird move as rapidly. 

 As far as I could trace him I could see no 

 movement of the wings, and he seemed to 

 be traveling at a tremendious rate. 



This led me to believe that he must 

 be coasting down hill, and he certainly 

 coasted out of sight. I have no idea 

 where he was going- or how far he went, 

 as the river at this place runs nearly 

 Northeast and Southwest, and this Loon 

 did not follow the course of the river, but 

 went straight for the North, which course 

 if he followed it, must have taken him a 

 long time before he found another lake 

 or large body of water to alight upon. 



Whether this is the usual method of 

 migration for this bird, I do not know. It 

 is the only time I have ever seen it per- 

 form in this way, though about all I know 

 of the Loon is what I glean from the 

 books and from my observation of him on 

 the Northern lakes in the summer, but to 

 me this was a wholly novel proceeding, 

 all through. 



Are Green Eggs of the Red-^tailed Hawk Rare? 



BY BENJAMIN HOAG. 



SO far as I am able to learn there are 

 very few recorded egg-s of Butco 

 borealis, which have a g-round color 

 of g-reen or greenish-white. The first of 

 these to come to my notice were recorded 

 by Mr. J. Parker Norris in the Ornitholo- 

 gist and OoJogist, Vol. XIV, page 51. The 

 article is not long and I will quote it 

 entire: 



"The egg-s of the Red-tailed Hawk 

 {Butco borcalis) have a ground color 

 which varies from white throug-h gra3nsh- 

 white to a faint bluish-white, but a set 

 of eggs of this species which exhibit a 

 decided g-reenish tint must be considered 

 a novelty. 



"Such a set has, however, been taken, 

 and they are now before me. They were 

 collected by the celebrated oologist J. M. 

 W. (Mr. C. L. Rawson), in New Lon- 



don County, Connecticut, and fully 

 identified. 



"The ground color is of a pale, but 

 decided greenish tint, and both the eggs 

 are spotted near the ends with fav/n color. 

 The greenish tint of the ground color is 

 distinctly perceptible, especially by day- 

 light, and is all the more remarkable 

 when seen in a large series of eggs of 

 this bird. Out of thirty-six sets now 

 before me (containing eighty-six eg-gs) 

 these two are the only ones which ap- 

 proach a greenish tint. 



"As if to make the set still more re- 

 markable, one of the eg-gs is a decided 

 runt, and only measures 2.01x1.60, while 

 the other is of normal size, and measures 

 2.37x1.85." 



Mr. Rawson took another set of eggs 

 from these same Btiteos the next season. 



