THE OOLOGIST. 



with pieces of bark and a few green 

 poplar twigs. Thie eggs, three in num- 

 ber, are perfect "Red tails" in minia- 

 ture, one being heavily marked with 

 blotches of red, brown and lilac, one 

 dotted closely all over wtth minute red 

 dots and the larger end solidly covered 

 with heavy reddish blotches; and the 

 other is encircled with a wreath of light 

 red and lilac around the middle, though 

 slightly nearer the small end. Incuba- 

 tion had just started. Measurements 

 1.88 X 1.49, 1.95 X 1.48, 1.90 x 1.48. 



On the 20th I went to visit the nest 

 found on the 10th, and as I drew near 

 the bird left the nest and being joined 

 by its mate, they flew about making 

 more fuss than any of the other pairs 

 had done. 



This time the nest contained three 

 handsome eggs, one of them is speckled 

 with red all over and looks like a Tur- 

 key's egg, one is marked with large 

 heavy blotches of red, principally at 

 the smaller end, and the other is marked 

 all over with smaller marks which are 

 thicker at the small end; measurements 

 2.05 X 1.59, 2.10 X 1.59, 2 04 x 1 60; incu- 

 bation very slight. This is a very large 

 set. 



I next went to visit the locality where 

 I had found the five old nests on the 

 hill, and as I was approaching the spot 

 I came across another nest which look- 

 ed older and more dilapidated than any 

 of the others, and was mostly composed 

 of dead leaves, being evidently an old 

 squirrel's nest, but over the top of it 

 projected the tail of Mr. (or Mrs ) 

 "Buteo." The hawk flew off as I start- 

 ed to ascend and lighting on a tree 30 

 yards away, commenced the usual sere- 

 nade. The nest was not more than 14 

 feet up in the forks of a very small oak 

 and was composed of a few sticks placed 

 on the foundation of dead leaves, lined 

 with a few pieces of bark, a few feathers 

 and some poplar twigs with the green 

 leaves and the fuzz from the Vuds still 

 on them, and measured 18 x 16 inches 



in diameter outside, 8x7 inches in dia- 

 meter inside, 8 inches deep outside and 

 4 inches deep inside. It contained three 

 eggs, incubation begun, one covered all 

 over with brick-red dots so that the 

 ground color can not be seen, and with 

 an almost solid mass of red all over the 

 small end; one marked heavily with 

 brick-red blotches forming a wreath 

 ai'ound the small end, and the other 

 clouded and marbled all over with sub- 

 merged pale lilac; size, 1.84 x 1.47, 1.89 

 X 1.54, 1.80 X 1.50. 



On May 28th while looking for a 

 Marsh Hawk's nest in a large marsh 

 about three miles from Minneapolis, I 

 was surprised to hear the cry of a Broad- 

 wing. There was only one tree near 

 and that was a small poplar that grew 

 on a dry piece of ground 35 yards away, 

 and I finally located Mr. Hawk in the 

 lower branches of this tree and on the 

 opposite side He seemed to be carry- 

 ing on an anima'ed conversation with a 

 Red-winged Blackbird, which, alarmed 

 by my proximity to its nest, was utter- 

 ing cries cf distress, which were quite 

 similar to the Broad wing's. Every 

 time the Blackbird would cry the hawk 

 would answer it, and I presume the 

 latter thought he was making quite an 

 impression. When I tried to get near 

 he flew straight away to a large wood 

 half a mile distant, and I made up my 

 mind that there was a set of eggs in that 

 wood, but as it was getting dark I had 

 to put off searching for them till a later 

 date. 



On the 30th having a few hours spare 

 time, I went out to the wood, and after 

 a somewhat prolonged search, as the 

 wood was a large one and the trees 

 small and close together, I found the 

 nest and the ha,wk flew off. The nest 

 was about 25 feet up in the forks of an 

 oak tree, and was built on top of the 

 dead leaves of an old squirrel's nest and 

 composed of sticks, and thickly lined 

 with green oak leaves; it measured 14 

 inches in diameter outside, 6 inside, and 



