170 



THE OOLOGIST. 



and, cinnamon spots on sides, size 1.76x 

 1.42. Egg 3. ovate, scattered lilac 

 blotches, a few sj^ecks of cinnamon, 

 size 1.76x1.43. 



Set. III. In March of '93 I saw a 

 Broad-wing watching me, sitting 

 tamely and silently in a black oak 

 thicket, north of town, while I wallowed 

 through snow drift and grass tangle 

 after a pair of Mallards that were fish- 

 ing in a woodland marsh. On Maj'^ 

 16th while scouring this spot for Bit- 

 tern eggs, I saw the Broad-wing stand- 

 ing in the stout, three limbed body 

 crotch of a black oak only ten feet up. 

 A most rudimentary nest supported a 

 single dark egg. which, with its later 

 laid lighter colored mate, was taken. 

 May 21, from the then completed nest 

 of sticks, bark and leafy twigs. 



Incubation begun. Egg 1, rounded 

 oval, scattered cinnamon spots, a solid 

 striation of same at small end, a few 

 spots of darker, size 1.8x1.5. Egg 2, 

 rounded OA'al, uniformerly spotty 

 blotched with lilac, small cinnamon 

 spots well scatteied, size 1.83x1. 5. The 

 "92 nest was in the densest part of the 

 wood, twenty rods away, tw elve feet 

 up in swamp oak. 



Set IV. Was taken in Atkin county, 

 close to a Avood read, forty rods from 

 the shore of a beautiful wooded lake, 

 in a rock majjle, twenty feet u]) and 

 within call of a farm house, was the 

 nest. Reported to me by a small boy. 

 The nest was large, of twigs, lined with 

 bark and yiine needles. Two eggs. 

 Incubation advanced, May 31. "93. Egg 

 1, slightly rounded ovate, small scat- 

 tered sul)-lilac spots, small blotches of 

 dull cinnamon massed at small end, as 

 if laid on with dried brush, size 1.9x 

 1.65. Egg 2, oval, uniformly clouded 

 with vinaceous cinnamon, rather heav- 

 ier at small end, size 1.8x1.5. The fe- 

 male was seen on the empty nest 24 

 hours after. 



SetV. At sunset of the same day, 

 May 31st amid the heavy rock maple 



timber on the east side of the same 

 Farm Island Lake, I was watching with 

 every sen.se intent for nest-going Wood 

 Ducks. Hollow after hollow was vain- 

 ly sounded. As darkness began to fall, 

 I saw a tell-tale tail projecting from a 

 slight stick nest, Avell set against the 

 two foot trunk of a leaning bass wood, 

 forty feet up, where the first two slight 

 limbs cropped out. Madam left the 

 nest quickly, silentlj'. "A Cooperi'' 

 said I. To save me. I could not safely 

 raise my head high enough to look into 

 the nest there was spur hold and branch- 

 let hold. only. A flatness, however, of 

 small sticks. Eggs appeared uncolored 

 in the twilight. But lamp light told a 

 different story. Of the three eggs, 

 number 1, oval and sharplj^ pointed, 

 was covered with very faint, cloudy 

 specks of viaceous cinnamon, the large 

 end being capped Avith a circlet of the 

 same, and a few darker specks, size 

 2.15x1.5. Number 2, pointed oval, was 

 marked with a verj' few vague, livid 

 spots, and three or four blotchy spots of 

 half obliterated bright cinnamon, size 

 2x1.52. Egg 3, pointed oval was spot- 

 ted Avith livid, like No. 2, but with a 

 few scattered "tly specks" of light 

 broAvn. The large end of the egg was 

 capped Avith a circle of these same "fiy 

 .specks." A'ery numerous and well de- 

 fined, size of egg 2.15x1.51. Incubation 

 begun. These eggs were larger than 

 the largest Broad-wing eggs noted in 

 DaAie: yet Broad-wings they certainly 

 Avere. And I went at dawn next daj^ to 

 prove it. Rowing rapidlj'^ over the 

 clear still water my boat speedil.y 

 ground the sand ju.st at day break, 

 under shadow of the pines and birches. 

 Within thiee minutes I Avas standing 

 beneath my leaning tree, eying, Avith 

 bated breath, the expressive tail of the 

 Hawk that sat motionless upon her 

 empty nest. But, in a moment Tig-q-e- 

 e-e and away she darted. Instantly the 

 shout of a delighted naturalist echoed 

 out and far across the lake. And a 



