98 Birds OF Pennsylvania. 



American Oology, p. 9, pt. I : ••' I have been informed by Professor S. 

 F. Baird that this Hawk undoubtedl^^ested on a high cliff near the 

 house of Professor S. S. Haldeman, near Columbia, Pennsylvania, as 

 attested by the assurances of Professor Haldeman, who has on several 

 occasions procured very young ones wiiich had fallen from the nest. 

 Specimens of these are in the Smithsonian Institution. Professor 

 Haldeman, in answer to my inquiries, has kindly furnished me with 

 the following interesting information in regard to the occurence of 

 this bird in Pennsylvania : ' In the Proceedings of the Academy of 

 Natural Sciences, Vol. I, p. 54 (1841), I have noticed the occurence 

 of Falco peregrinus anatum on the Susquehanna. A pair had a nest 

 for many years about a hundred yards from my house, on a high and 

 almost vertical cliff; but as a railway now traverses its base, it is not 

 probable that the species will return to the locality. I have not seen 

 an individual for a number of years past, ***** This bird 

 remained ten or eleven months in the year, disappearing only in the 

 coldest weather, and returning with the first favorable change. The 

 nest was difficult of access, and I never saw it ; but it was once 

 reached and the young taken by getting down from above. I have 

 seen them at Harper's Ferry since the railway has been in use there, 

 recognizing them by their flight and cry. I feel confident that they 

 breed there, the cliffs being well adapted to their habits. Ranges of 

 similar cliffs occur along the rivers of East Tennessee, but I did not 

 meet with the bird when travelling there. On the Susquehanna they 

 breed early in the Spring, the young (to the number of not less than 

 three) leaving the nest perhaps in May; and there may possibly be a 

 second brood. I used formerly to see this species about three miles 

 farther up the Susquehanna, where it probably inhabits the clifl's on 

 the western side. *****! am under the impression that at 

 my locality but a single pair remained, the young disappearing in the 

 course of the season. In the wild region between Columbia and tide- 

 water, there are many localities suited to the habits of this bird.' " 



The nest and eggs of the Duck Hawk I have never seen. They are 

 described by Audubon as follows : '* I have nowhere seen it so abun- 

 dant as along the high, rocky shores of Labrador and Newfoundland, 

 where I procured several adult individuals of both sexes, as well as 

 some eggs and young. The nests were placed on the shelves of rocks, 

 a few feet from the top, and were flat, and rudely constructed of sticks 

 and moss. In some were found four eggs, in others only two, and in 

 one five. In one nest only a single young bird was found. The eggs 

 vary considerably in color and size, which, I think, is owing to a dif- 

 ference of age in the females; the eggs of young birds being smaller. 

 The average length of four was two inches, their breadth one and five- 

 eighths. They are somewhat rounded, though larger at one end than 



