220 STORIES OF BIRD LIFE 



SO often the winter before, and we had wondered if she had 

 a mate somewhere. Poor Xantippe had seen much trouble 

 the past year. In the spring she left the campus and went 

 back into the fields to meet her mate, old Socrates, perhaps. 

 A little later some boys found their nest and destroyed it. 

 It was in the natural cavity of a dead tree twenty feet from 

 the ground. Three eggs I believe they said it contained, 

 three chocolate spotted eggs. 



The pair must have found another nesting site, however, 

 for in the autumn when Xantippe again appeared on the 

 campus she brought with her not only Socrates but also 

 a pair of young birds. The college atmosphere must have 

 proved too stimulating for the young ones, for they soon 

 left, probably returning to the country. 



Xantippe 's favorite perch, as last winter, was on one of 

 the goal posts in the athletic park, while Socrates took up 

 his headquarters on the topmost limb of a locust tree just 

 outside the park fence. Here they would sit for hours at 

 a time, flying down now and then to capture some article of 

 food, or else to chase away the meadow larks when they 

 came near. Sometimes both would come and perch near 

 the laboratory, high on the fourth floor, and nod to each 

 other and peep in through the windows. Then the boys 

 would look up from their microscopes and call to each 

 other that the little hawks had come to look on again. 



