28 



THE OOLOGIST. 



The Red-tailed Hawk in Hardin County 

 Iowa. 



Althoiigli this bird has been frequent- 

 ly spoken of in the Oologist and other 

 papers it has not had much representa- 

 tion in Iowa or at least in this locality. 

 This Hawk is quite plentiful in this vi- 

 cinity from the fact Ihat we have so 

 many gophers or prairie squirrels, 

 which is one of their chief articles of 

 food. I have taken seven sets of their 

 eggs in the seasons of "94 and '95 be- 

 sides those taken by other collectors. 

 The nesting season begins about April 

 10th and lasts until Ma.y 20. The best 

 time to find full sets is from April 20th 

 to May 1st. I have no way of measur- 

 ing the eggs taken but think that they 

 will average larger than those given by 

 Davie, although W . A. Davidson of De- 

 troit, Mich , tells me that the ones I 

 sent him are smaller than those collect- 

 ed in his locality. Tnere are generally 

 two eggs in a nest but not uncommonly 

 I tind three. Davie says they some- 

 times lay four but I have never had the 

 juck to find a set of four. 



Below I give extracts from the datas 

 for the sets collected in '94 and '95: 



April 20, 1894. Eggs, three; incuba- 

 tion just commenced. Nest in burr- 

 oak tree about 60 ft. up. Made of 

 coarse sticks and lined with bark and 

 moss. Very large but shallow. 



May 10, 1894. Eggs, two; incubation 

 advanced, Nest in oak tree about 40 

 ft. up. Made of coarse sticks and lined 

 with bark, moss and a few feathers. 



April 16, 1895. Eggs, two; incuba- 

 tion fresh. Nest in large tree about 30 

 ft. up and out on a horizontal limb 

 about 12 ft. from body of the tree. 

 Made of coarse sticks and lined with 

 bark and moss. Very shallow, nearly 

 flat. 



April 21, 1895. Eggs, two; incuba- 

 tion begun. Nest in white oak tree 

 about 40 ft. up. Made of coarse sticks 

 and two pieces of cornstalk and lined 

 with bark, corn husks and buds. 



I went to this nest again on May 6th 

 and found one egg in the nest. I left 

 it thinking I would get another set. 

 On the 10th I returned and saw the fe- 

 male leave the nest. I climbed the tree 

 but found only one egg. I don't know 

 whether the Hawk laid only one egg or 

 whether one had been destroyed. The 

 egg was slightlj incubated. 



April 25, 1895. Eggs, two; incuba- 

 tion fresh. Nest in basswood tree 50 

 ft. up. Made of coarse sticks and lined 

 with bark, corn husks, catkins and 

 moss. A very large nest. 



May 11, 1895. Eggs, two; incuba- 

 tion slight. Nest in red oak tree about 

 35 ft. up. Made of coarse sticks and 

 lined with bark and moss. A very 

 thick nest but very shaHow inside. 



Davie speaks of the Red-tail nesting 

 in old Crows' nests I'ebuilt but I have 

 never found them to do so in this lo- 

 cality. They will continue to lay in 

 the same nest several years in succes- 

 sion even after being robbed but I 

 think it is the same pair that use the 

 nest again. Sometimes after being 

 robbed they will the next season build 

 a new nest within a few rods of the old 

 one instead of looking up a new local- 

 ity. Clarence Hartikgek, 

 Alden, Iowa. 



Early Collecting-. 



I went to the woods yesterday and 

 got two sets of two Great Horned Owl's 

 eggs saw five Meadowlarks, two Doves, 

 one Mockingbird, three Robins, two 

 Bluebirds, five Towhees and a host of 

 Woodpeckers of the Downy, Hairy, 

 Red-head, Flicker and Yellow-bellied 

 species, Nuthatches, Chickadees, Creep- 

 er Kinglets, Sparrows, Red shouldered 

 Hawk, Snowbirds, and the strange part 

 of the progi'amme is, the mercury reg- 

 istered zero. I used to think Meadow- 

 larks, Doves, Robins, Bluebirds and 

 the like could not stand very much 

 cold weather but I see they do. 



If nothing prevents I shall endeavor 

 to send you some notes for publication 

 this year. C B. Vandercook, 



Jan. 26, 1897. Odin, Ills. 



