IHE OOLOGIST 



15 



side and measured about two inches 

 and a half (2|) inside diameter. 



The eggs, four (4) in number, were a 

 light pea green, spotted and slightly 

 lined with various shades of brown and 

 lilac, chiefly in the form of a wreath 

 around the larger end. They measured 

 .78X.64, .80x63, .81 x .63 and Six 

 .63. 



This set was taken June 6, '96, and 

 were well advanced in incubation. 

 Frank S. Low, 

 Buffalo, N. y. 



Nesting of the Duck Hawk in Hamil- 

 ton Co., New York * 



In the spring of '97 I noticed a pair 

 of Hawks and later the brood of 4 

 young who nested in a ledge about [a 

 mile back of the (rrifiin farm near In- 

 dian Lake in Hamilton Co., and after 

 having watched them closely, I con- 

 cluded they were the rather rare Duck 

 Hawk. The following spring '98 I 

 watched for their advent and finally 

 one day had the pleasure (?) of seeing 

 one drop on a chicken by the barn. A 

 ball from a Winchester made him drop 

 it, but did not hurt the Hawk; and the 

 chicken, although it dropped over a 

 hundred feet escaped unhurt and is 

 still on this earth unless it has been in- 

 terviewed by an axe. 



The following day .Mr. T. Monell of 

 New York, who was visiting me, and 

 myself climbed the ledge and after sev- 

 eral hours' work located the nest in a 

 crack in the face of the ledge about 75 

 feet below the top and 150 feet from 

 the foot. The ledge was practically 

 perpendicular except for a few small 

 clumps of bushes that grow out of the 

 cracks or on little shelves. 



♦ Last month, Dec. '98, Mr. D. H. Haight of 

 New York City wrote us in reference to the {re- 

 pair of a couple of eggs of the Duck Hawk, 

 which he took with two others in Hamilton 

 county, this state, during the past season. The 

 two in question having been broken by some 



" express agent'" when sending home, at 



our request Mr. H. sent the broken but once 

 beautiful specimens (which we much regret 

 are beyond repair) with an account of taking 

 them. This Interesting account we herewith 

 give to the readers of the Oologist.— Ed, 



The birds kept circling around and I 

 shot one as it lit on the limb of a pine 

 which grew near the top. It fell down 

 and lodged in one of those clumps of 

 bushes. As it was late and we had no 

 rope we deferred trying for the nest 

 until the next day. 



May 31, the following day, Monell 

 and I and a boy named Graham started 

 up with rope, axes, and a baking pow- 

 der can with cotton in it and the gun, 

 for we wanted that other bird and we 

 got him but he fell down and stuck the 

 same as the first one 



Well, we got the rope and began to 

 let each other down and worked out 

 across the face of the ledge. Here the 

 boy proved to be a human fly and he 

 got to the nest first followed by Monell, 

 while I remained below so as to pass 

 down the eggs. The crack proved to 

 be abcnt 15 feet-long by 6 feet deep and 

 at the opening t.bout 3 feet wide. 



The nest was at the furthest end, at 

 least the eggs were as there was not the 

 slightest sign of any attempt at nest 

 building. 



The baking powder can came into 

 play here and one egg at a time was 

 passed back until I had all four on a 

 little ledge by me. Then we strung 

 out again and passed them along to 

 safety After that Monell and I lower- 

 ed the boy and he got the two birds 

 after some more fly on the wall work. 



It was then discovered that I had shot 

 the male bird the day previous. They 

 were shipped to Mr. Batchelor, taxi- 

 dermist, Indian Lake village, who 

 mounted them. 



We had several narrow escapes by 

 the moss on the little ledges slipping 

 off and causing us to slip and we were 

 very glad when it was all over. 



We found a Junco's nest with 4 fresh 

 eggs on top of the ledge. It was built 

 into the moss so that if the bird had 

 not flown out from nearly under my 

 foot 1 should never have found it. 



The Hawk's eggs were badly incu- 

 bated and I had to let them decay be- 

 fore I could remove the chick. 1 did 

 that by washing out as much as possi- 

 ble, and then filling with water and set- 

 ting them in a warm place until they 

 tried to walk oft". Tnen I was able to 

 clean them out entirely. 



D. H. Haight, New York City. 



