84 



THE OOLOGIST 



The Nesting of the Western Goshawk. 



During the spring and summer of 

 1913, I was located at a U. S. forest 

 service camp in the Big Hole Basin, 

 Beaverhead County, Montana. We 

 were on the south fork of Thompson 

 Creek in the Continental Divide Range. 

 The mountains were covered with 

 thick forest of Lodgepole Pine. 



On June 1st I found a hawk's nest 

 in the top of a small lodgepole, about 

 thirty-five feet from the ground. The 

 old bird was on the nest, but when 1 

 struck the tree with an ax she flew off, 

 uttering shrill, sharp cries unlike those 

 of any hawk that I had ever heard be- 

 fore. She lit in the top of a tree near- 

 by, making a fearful racket. In vain 

 I tried to identify her, but I had never 

 seen any of her relatives before. 



I decided to investigate the nest and 

 so started up the tree, paying no fur- 

 ther attention to the hawk. When I 

 was about half way up something 

 struck me a blow on the side of the 

 head, which dazed me for a moment. 

 It felt as if someone had hit me with 

 a club. It was the old hawk. Later, 

 when I reached camp I found that 

 she had cut a deep gash, which extend- 

 ed from just above my left eye across 

 my temple and ear. I was greatly sur- 

 prised for I had never previously en- 

 countered any of the hawks that would 

 actually strike a man while climbing 

 to their nests, although they often 

 make a great fuss. I broke off a dead 

 limb to use as a club if she should try 

 it again. The old bird circled around 

 and came at me once more from be- 

 hind, but this time I was on my guard. 

 She came straight at my head with 

 the speed of an arrow, but when she 

 saw that 1 was waiting for her she 

 did not strike me, flying to one side 

 when within a few feet of me. She 

 repeated this several times, until 1 

 had reached the nest. 



The nest contained four young about 



three or four days old. 1 did not dis- 

 turb them at that time. Later, I iden- 

 itfled the adult as the Western Gos- 

 hawk. I finally shot her thus making 

 the identification positive. The nest, 

 which was very bulky, was composed 

 of sticks and lined with twigs. It was 

 built in the crotch formed by three 

 limbs at the very top of the tree. 



The nest was about one-half mile 

 from camp, and I visited it quite fre- 

 quently. Only once did I see both par- 

 ent birds there together, and that was 

 one evening about six o'clock. No mat- 

 ter at what time of the day or how of- 

 ten I went, there was always one bird 

 on guard. She seemed to recognize 

 me and to have a special grievance 

 against me, for on several occasions 

 when I was close to the nesting tree 

 she' flew at me and came within a 

 few feet of my head. I believe that 

 she would have struck me had I not 

 been watching her. Several of the 

 boys from camp were near the nest at 

 various times, but she never seemed to 

 mind them. 



My reference book states that the 

 Goshawk is very destructive to game 

 birds, and as the forests of that local- 

 ity contain great numbers of grouse, 

 among which is the Franklin Grouse, 

 1 decided that the bird world would 

 be better off if this family was not al- 

 lowed to live. The Franklin Grouse is 

 known locally as the "Fool Hen" and 

 they would be easy victims for such a 

 dashing bird of prey. 



On June 21st I shot one of the old 

 birds and took the young. Their 

 growth had been rather slow. Their 

 bodies were still covered with white 

 down, but their wing feathers were 

 well advanced, and their tails had com- 

 menced to sprout. I took them to 

 camp. They were vicious, not making 

 friends, and refusing absolutely to eat. 

 However, I took small chunks of raw 

 beef and forced down their throats. 



