CATALOGUE OF CANADIAN BIRDS. 235 
‘In general appearance this nest is much like that of the red- 
tail, but the position is different, being usually less elevated. I 
have seen many that I could not reach from the ground. The 
favourite sites are the crown of a dense clump of willows, or the 
highest fork of a low scrub oak ; occasionally I have observed the 
nest at a height of 20 or even 30 feet, in some poplar, but this is 
unusual. 
“ The eggs are commonly three but sometimes four in number ; 
they are more or less spherical and vary much in colour. The 
young, when hatched, are the purest and downiest looking of 
innocents, and it is only on examination of the tiny though promis- 
ing beak and claws that one can credit that little snowball with the 
makings of a ruthless and bloodthirsty marauder.” 
First seen on April 4th, 1892, at Indian Head, Assa.; common 
by the 16th. May 25th found a nest with one egg, nest in live 
poplar, made of sticks, lined with a few twigs from the living 
poplar trees with the leaves on. All the nests that I saw later 
were built in the same way and all contained the green twigs and 
leaves. They invariably repair the old nests and only one new 
nest was seen during the season. Nests contained 2-4 eggs. 
Farther west they build their nests chiefly in clumps of willow 
along the banks of streams and the edges of sloughs and scarcely 
ever in thick woods. Where there are no willows or trees they 
will build their nest in a clump of rose bushes or upon a‘“‘cut bank” 
(a cliff of earth by astream). Their principal food is gophers 
and mice, of which they kill a great number. They are a great 
benefit to the farmer but he does not seem to know it, for in 
southwestern Manitoba last autumn (1891) I counted no less than 
nine dead buzzards along a trail in less than half a mile. Found 
two nests in trees at Crane Lake, Assa., in June, 1894. The 
nests were built of sticks and lined with dried grass. One had 
two eggs, the other three. I shot one of the old birds as it came 
from the nest and it proved to be a male showing that both 
took turns at the nest. This species is a very late breeder and 
only in one case did I find eggs before the first of June. (Spread- 
borough.) 
The writer has taken many nests of this species in Assiniboia 
and has found that a tree is preferred to nest in but that they 
change the site to agree with changed conditions. Where oak 
scrub exists they prefer oak, farther west poplar (Populus 
tremuloides) and on treeless plains they descend to low bushes and 
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