THE OOLOGIST. 



205 



lectors in the month of May. The 

 earliest full set of eggs was collected 

 April 23d, and I believe the latest date 

 for a fresh set, first clutch, is May 29th. 

 The best time to look for the eggs is 

 during the first half of May. 



My friend K. W., who has developed 

 into a great climber and collector of 

 Hawk's and Owl's eggs, invited me to 

 go out with him on a trip for Cooper's 

 and knowing his proficiency, from pre- 

 vious agreeable trips, I eagerly ac- 

 cepted. 



We started one bright morning in the 

 second week in May to go over a por- 

 tion of his 'Cooper route.' A portion 

 he calls it, for the whole circuit is over 

 sixty miles, with all its ins and outs and 

 could not be well accomplished in less 

 than three days. We had been out one 

 day, but it proved rainy and windy and 

 the result was only a dozen eggs. 

 These circuits he had mapped out for 

 years, and has on all possible occasions 

 visited the various clumps of woods 

 and kept account of th^ active clatter- 

 ing Cooper's Hawks. In his cross- 

 country trips, when he goes for the 

 larger Hawk's nests, it is but little 

 trouble to look up the more tardy 

 species. In fact, to the true naturalist, 

 all of these walks and notes are only in 

 the nature of labors of love. 



Away we went with a dash, behind 

 his fast stepper, and made nearly four 

 miles without a pause, where K. handed 

 me the reins and began buckling on his 

 climbing irons, while the mare was 

 still making good time. 



Reaching an oak grove at the side of 

 the road, he leaped out, climbed the 

 fence and disappeared in a few seconds. 

 In less than five minutes he returned to 

 the carriage with four fresh eggs. In- 

 side of thirty seconds the eggs were 

 packed and we were dashing on to 

 another quarter, while my companion 

 explained that the nest just visited was 

 only 22 feet up in a white oak and less 

 than ten rods from the highway. He 



said the nests were usually built in 

 white oaks, but that he had found them 

 in black oak, hickory, beech, maple and 

 ash. 



After a mile's trot my companion left 

 me and struck across a field to an iso- 

 lated patch of dense oak woods, where ■ 

 he had located a prospective set the 

 previous week. The bii-ds however 

 still px-oved dilatory. After this exam- 

 ination he cut across lots to another 

 piece, motioning me to drive on down 

 the road. In this way he visited sever- 

 al groves, and travelled all of two 

 miles, and I kept track of him and was 

 guided by a wave of his hand as to my 

 route. On his return he showed a fine 

 set of fresh eggs, and reported seeing 

 Hve nests, four of which he inspected 

 by the aid of his climbing irons. In 

 one nest there was a single egg, which 

 of course he left. 



The Cooper's Hawk often builds in 

 proximity to a barn yard and seldom 

 far removed from the habitation of 

 man in this region. Very often a pair 

 is found nesting in a small patch of 

 trees within a hundred yards of a barn 

 and I know of one nest which was built 

 within half of that distance of a house. 

 However, if one does not keep his eyes . 

 and ears on the alert, nothing will be 

 known of the pre.sence of this bird, and 

 much less of its nest. 



This is the most destructive Hawk to 

 to the chicken yard, and the agricultur- 

 ist is well aware of it, and is always on_ 

 the lookout for 'them tarnal blue-backed 

 chicken hawks,' as he calls them. But , 

 at the same time that he is heaping 

 maledictions on this bird, and loading 

 his musket with a charge which would 

 fix a bear, the swift flying Cooper's is ■ 

 nesting in safety less than a hundred, 

 rods away in the same piece of wood 

 where it has nested for many years. 



As the horse wended his way over the • 

 road to the next likely spot K. told me ■ 

 that the nests which he had just visited 

 were respectively 45, 40 and 35 feet 



