182 NOTES ON THE 



Others claim to have seen several of them associated upon their 

 first reaching us, but I have never seen more than a pair to- 

 gether, and in no half-day devoted to collections have I ever 

 met with more than two pairs. They preferably frequent dis- 

 tricts where there is considerable open, scattering timber, con- 

 taining brush and thickets. These afford it Ruffed Grouse, 

 quails, squirrels and rabbits, of each and all of which they 

 are exceptionally fond. Although reputedly a terror to do- 

 mestic fowls in other sections of the country, I have never 

 known them to disturb them here. We undoubtedly have the 

 best of domestic cocks, and Minnesota enjoys a first-class rep- 

 utation for "crowing" (Crow Wing?) which may, or may not 

 account for the local exemption of the barnyards. Not far 

 from the 25th of April, they begin to build their nests in the 

 forks of large trees, elevated as much as the firmness of the 

 branching limbs will permit.* The nest consists of sticks 

 outwardly, lined variously with strips of bark, leaves, moss, 

 twigs arfd hay, and is quite bulky horizontally, with slight de- 

 depressions for the four dull white eggs. It has long since 

 been said that this species does not quit the nest after the first 

 egg has been deposited, and I am now satisfied that this is true 

 frequently enough to constitute a rule. It becomes possible 

 from the fact that both seexs equally share the incubatory 

 duties more faithfully than any other known species of the 

 hawks. A young bird is occasionally found in the nest ten 

 days before the last egg is hatched. Along the principal car- 

 riage way between Minneapolis and St. Paul, and not very far 

 from it, a pair of these hawks have built since 1874. It is not 

 a little remarkable that they should have escaped the shotguns 

 of the numerous boy-hunters of the two cities so long, to say 

 nothing of the hazards of hunting their quarry after the whole 

 family have taken the field. I have never seen them moving in 

 circles after the manner of many others of the larger species, 

 but directly forward, skimming close to the tops of the taller 

 trees until diverted by the discovery of prey, when it dashes 

 downward with tremendous velocity. Should it prove to be a 

 rabbit, and once under way for its hole, the chase becomes 

 amusing to see how the bird will strike when the rabbit passes 

 an opening, which indeed must be a narrow one if it escapes, 

 as they not infrequently do. If the game is a Ruffed Grouse, 



*While characteristic, this position of the nest is not without frequent exceptions, as 

 I have known them to occupy tlie forks of a large horizontal limb fifteen or more feet 

 from the trunk, and underneath the larger portions of the top. 



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