8 THE DUCK HAWK— PEREGRINE. 



just commenced. The birds remained about the mountain all the summer, and 

 from the anxiety they manifested in August, it appears not improbable that they 

 laid a third tune, and at this late period had unfledged young. The first set of eggs 

 and the female parent, collected April 19th, 1864, are in the Museum of Natural 

 History at Springfield, as also a male killed subsequently at the same locality in 

 April ; the second set, collected in April, 1866, are in the cabinet of Mr. E. A. 

 Samuels ; the third and fourth sets, collected April 28th and May 23rd, 1869, are 

 in that of Dr. William Wood, of East Windsor Hill, Conn. Altliough in each set 

 the dilferent eggs sometimes varied considerably from each other, neither of the 

 three last present that remarkable range of variation exhibited by the first. It is 

 probable that some years more than one pair have nested on Mount Tom, but only 

 one nest-site had been discovered before the present year. I learn from Dr. Wood 

 that this bird is every year seen also about Talcott Mountain, and that it probably 

 regularly breeds there. The young obtained from it in 1862 Dr. Wood kept till 

 the following fall, when they were sent to Professor Baird, and died at the Smith- 

 sonian Institution the succeeding spring." 



As few ornithologists have had the good fortune to meet with 

 the eyrie and eggs of the Duck Hawk, and since it is not improb- 

 able that these birds may yet be found to nest in Canada, I add 

 some. further details of interest respecting the eyrie on Mount 

 Tom, near Springfield, Massachusetts. The account from which 

 these are taken is the most complete and interesting ever pub- 

 lished on this subject, and is the only one in which the eggs of the 

 bird are described at any length. 



" Although the Duck Hawk has been long known to breed at the localities in 

 Massachusetts mentioned above (Mounts Tom and Holyoke), those conversant 

 with the fact were not aware that any special interest was attached to it, or that- its 

 eggs and breeding habits were very little known to ornithologists, and so, until very 

 recently, no particular efforts have been made to procure the eggs. Mr. Bennett, 

 becoming aware of this, resolved to procure the eggs. He accordingly visited 

 Mount Tom for this purpose, April 6th of the present year (1864), when he searched 

 the whole ridge of the mountain, discovered the old birds and the particular part 

 they most frequented, and also the site of the nest, where the young had been 

 raised. The old birds were continually near the spot, and manifested much solici- 

 tude when it was approached, often tiying within six or eight rods, and once the 

 female came within three, screaming and" thrusting out her talons, with an expression 

 of great rage and fierceness. The birds did not appear at all shy, being easily 

 approached quite nearly, though in walking, the cracking of sticks and the clinking 

 of splinters of trap-rock made no little noise. One of the. birds appeared to keep 

 close to the eyrie, and both would approach whenever it was visited, screaming at 

 and menacing the intruder, notwithstanding that at that time there were no eggs. 

 Mr. Bennett, suspecting that incubation had commenced, visited the locality again 



