96 



THE OOLOGIST. 



or occasionly one egg of a set is marked 

 on the smaller end. In very rare instan- 

 ces thej' have been found entirely un- 

 marked. The average size is 2.36x1.80 

 inches. I report my first find of this 

 species for this year on Mar. 20th. 

 This nest is placed high in the forks 

 of a giant poplar tree in a small grove 

 boi'dering a stream. Last year a crow 

 built and occupied this nest but owing 

 to its being so admirably located a pair 

 of Buteos has taken possession of it this 

 3'ear. It is about 64 ft. high and owing 

 to the size of the tree I think this clutch 

 of eggs will remain unmolested. If any 

 readers of the Oblogist know of any safe 

 and practii-al plan of reaching the 

 eggs of species which nest so high in 

 large trees^hawks especiallj' — they 

 will comfer a favor by having it pub- 

 lished in that live and wide-awake 

 paper to the interest of collectors — The 

 OoLOGi.ST. When flying machines are 

 invented I expect to take several sets of 

 Red-tails which so far have detied aU 

 attempts on the pai't of collector to 

 reach them. 



Jos. P. Jackson. 

 Kelton. Pa. 



Coopers Hawk- 



The Cooper's Hawk commonly called 

 the Chicken Hawk by the farmers, is 

 quite common in Western Massachu. 

 setts. It is about 18 inches long, and 

 has a long slightly round tail some 

 eight or nine inches in length. This bird 

 can be recognized by its easy flight, and 

 which in the open country, is near the 

 ground, but when in pursuit of its 

 quarry, it is very quick and powerful 

 in its flight, and soon captures its prey. 

 It is a great nuisance to the farmer who 

 wishes to raise chickens for protit. If it 

 once gets a taste from a brood, nothing 

 excei)t a h<;avy charge of shot fired with 

 deadly effect, will drive it away till 

 every ciiick has been taken. We remem- 

 ber when a bov, that one of these hawks 



commenced to pick up a brood of 

 chickens near the house. They were dis- 

 appearing fast when one morning on 

 going out to feed them we saw the hawk 

 sitting on the coop waiting for them 

 to come out. We took our gun and 

 followed it to a wood lot near by, and 

 shot the female on her nest, from which 

 we took three eggs. This was in the 

 days when we were beginning our col- 

 lection of eggs and placing them in our 

 cabinet without blowing out the con- 

 tents. This nest was in a beech-tree 

 about forty feet from the ground and it 

 resembled the nest of the Red-tailed 

 Hawk, and was built close to the bod3'' 

 of the ti'ee. The next year we took four 

 eggs from the same nest. This was 

 about twenty-five years ago. A few 

 years later, while fishing for trout, we 

 found another nest beside the brook 

 about one half mile from the old place 

 containing five eggs. The birds had tak- 

 en possession of an old crow's nest which 

 they had repaired and used for their 

 domestic arrangements. This too, was 

 in a beech-tree some twenty-five feet 

 from the ground. The eggs were fresh 

 and easily blown, some of which Friend 

 Lattin took in exchange for eggs not in 

 our collection. Our fourth and last nest 

 was found in another beech-tree in the 

 same wood lot, where the first two sets 

 were taken. The birds had taken pos- 

 session of a Red-tailed Hawk's nest, 

 from which we had taken a set of three 

 eggs a few weeks before. We find by 

 referring to The Oologist for Decem- 

 ber 1886. that the three Red-tailed 

 Hawk's eggs were taken April 10, 1882. 

 and that the five Cooper's Hawk's were 

 taken from the same nest Maj^ 17th of 

 the same year, a little more than a 

 month later. A description of the diffi- 

 culties experienced in securing those 

 two sets of eggs, can be found under 

 the subject "A Newsy Letter from 

 Massachusetts" in The Oologist of 

 that date. This bird usually' lays four 

 or five eggs. Probably in those instances- 



