Some of their nests are remarkable structures, often two feet high and 

 a foot or more deep inside. Here, it is, as a rule, made of stiff weed 

 stems, firmly matted together to prevent being blown entirely out of the 

 tree. Deserted hawk-nests are often made over to suit the taste of the 

 pre-empting Caracaras. As a result, nests are found having a firm 

 foundation of sticks, on which are piled the inevitable weed stalks. 



Generally the nests have no linings, the rough stalks being considered 

 sufficient ; but I know of one enterprising pair of these birds that gave 

 their nest a complete lining of cedar-bark from a newly made fence near 

 by, and also sprinkled the limb the nest was on, giving the whole a red- 

 dish appearance. 



The first set of eggs is laid very early in March, and if left undisturbed, 

 the birds will content themselves with rearing one brood ; but if the eggs 

 are taken or disturbed, they invariably lay another set. If the sets are 

 taken in succesion, three sets or even four are laid in a season. Twice I 

 have taken three sets from one pair in a season, and in 1893 I took four 

 sets from one pair. In this instance the third set in the series was laid in 

 a refitted nest near the nest in which the other three sets were laid. I 

 have so often noticed the Caracaras laying the second or third set of a 

 series in a newly built nest near the old one, that I have come to regard 

 this action as the rule rather than the exception. 



A fevj extracts from my note-book in regard to two of these series 

 may be of interest. Let us designate two nests as A and B respectively. 

 One is a large mass of decayed weeds, fully two feet across the top and 

 about six inches deep in the middle, saddled in the crotch of a live-oak, 

 about twenty-five feet up. The other is but a shallow platform of weeds, 

 about thirty feet up in a live-oak. On March 2, 1893, I took a set of 

 three from A and a set of two from B, both fresh. Again on March 25, 

 I took another set of three from A and of two from B, both fresh. On 

 April 15, I took a set of two from B, which was the last set. from that pair 

 that year. In this set, one of the eggs had a pure white ground color all 

 dotted over with little red dots congregating at the larger end. On April 

 17, I took another set of three from nest A, or rather a new nest about 

 100 yards from the old nest. Again visiting nest A on May 18, I was 

 surprised to find another set 01 two awaiting me. The eggs were quite 

 fresh, and are the m.ost peculiarly marked eggs of this species I have yet 

 seen. The ground color was a light cream. One of the eggs was com- 

 pletely capped upon the larger end with dark red, while the other was 

 capped upon both ends, leaving a ring of pale yellow around the middle 

 of the egg. I am certain that these four sets were laid by the same pair 

 of birds, as the nest and localitv were watched. 



