80 Contributions from the Charleston Museum. 



the birds do not appear in the vicinity of Charleston until March 7. 



As soon as the Fish Hawk arrives it returns to the nest in which 

 it bred the previous year — if the tree is standing, but if such is 

 not the case it selects another in the immediate vicinity in which 

 to build a new nest. The nest is generally placed in the top of a 

 dead pine and almost always at a great height from the ground. 

 I have seen but two nests which were built in living pine trees, and 

 as the tops of these trees were blown off they were admirably suited 

 to this bird 's wants. The nests are composed of sticks, weeds, sea- 

 weed, and Spanish moss. Some nests, which have been occupied 

 for a number of years, measure four or more feet across the top, 

 and about the same in depth. This species has but one brood, 

 and the eggs, which are laid in April, number two or three, and are 

 of a yellowish white color, spotted and blotched with deep reddish 

 brown. The average size is 2.40x1-75. 



During the breeding season the birds are almost constantly on 

 or very near the nest and sometimes both birds remain on it for 

 hours at a time. While one is incubating, the other supplies it 

 with fish, and it is not unusual to see fish on the ground at the 

 foot of the tree. Before the Fish Hawks migrate in the autumn 

 they repair their nests in order that they may withstand the 

 blasts of the winter. 



True to its name the Fish Hawk subsists entirely upon fish, 

 which it catches by hovering over the water and then plunging 

 into it. 



The Fish Hawk is found from northern South America to Hud- 

 son Bay and Alaska, and breeds throughout its North American 

 range . 



FAMILY ALUCONID^: BARN OWLS. 



148. Aluco pratincola (Bonap.). Barn Owl. 



This curious owl is a permanent resident and breeds in deserted 

 buildings on plantations as well as in the steeples of churches in 

 the heart of cities, but I have never taken its eggs. A pair of 

 these owls bred annually in the ruins of the old Circular Church on 

 Meeting Street in Charleston, about twenty-five years ago. 



On the plantation of Mr. J. St. Clair White, which is known as 

 Bossis, on the Cooper River, this owl breeds every year in a de- 

 serted building. Mrs. White, the wife of the owner of the plan- 

 tation, in answering a communication relative to the eggs of this 

 bird, wrote under date of January 3, 1906, as follows: 



