Vol. XXII 

 1905 



Stockard, Nesting Habits of Mississippi Birds. I S3 



never seen its nest in the State, but it is said to breed year after year in 

 the tall swamps of the river counties. There is a cypress brake bordering 

 a lake shore in Catahoula Parish, Louisiana, where a pair of Bald Eagles 

 rear their brood each year. The same nest is used season after season 

 and is situated far up in the topmost branches of a huge cypress tree. 

 This brake is about twenty-five miles from the Mississippi River, west of 

 Natchez, Mississippi. 



25. Falco sparverius. American Sparrow Hawk. — The Sparrow 

 Hawk was rather abundant in towns and villages as well as through the 

 country districts. I found them in Adams County nesting in a manner 

 almost social or colonial. In a newly cleared field there were many old 

 stumps of deadened trees, some of which were very tall, and many pairs 

 of this little hawk were nesting in these stumps. Some were in natural 

 cavities and others in the deserted burrows of Pileated and other wood- 

 peckers. On March 18, 1 901, four hollows in this 'deadening' contained 

 four eggs each ; no nests were built in the hollows. On April 2, 1902, 

 three other sets of four were found in the same locality. Many more 

 pairs nested here, but most of the dead trees were impossible to climb 

 without danger ; thus few nests were observed. This clearing was about 

 one mile long and half a mile wide. 



26. Syrnium varium. Barred Owl. — This is the common large owl 

 of the State, and almost every wood, large or small, has its Barred Owls. 

 On passing along almost any country road after sunset the hoot of this 

 owl is heard, and where the road leads through the wood it is not at all 

 uncommon to find one or two of them perched on some lower branch of 

 a large tree. Then the owl will incline its body forward and peer at the 

 passer-by in a most amusing fashion, stretching and twisting its neck and 

 bobbing its head up and down in a remarkable way. 



The eggs are laid in large hollows of trees, which are usually located 

 in thick woods. No nest is made in the cavity, the two eggs lying directly 

 on the soft floor of decayed wood. A pair was observed to occupy the 

 same hollow for four years, and it was stated that the owls had reared 

 their young in this place for many seasons before. All sets consisted of 

 only two eggs. They are rather early layers, a set being seen on Febru- 

 ary 2, 1903, in Adams County, and another on February 18, 1895, in the 

 east central part of the State, while the latest eggs were found on March 

 11, 1898; at all later dates the nests contained young. One nest was 

 found to contain young about one week old at the early date of February 

 28, 1903, so these eggs were probably laid in the month of Ja,nuary, 

 although not knowing the period of incubation for this bird I am unable 

 to give a definite calculation. 



The young were easily reared and fed on almost any kind of meat, being 

 especially partial to small fish and the common crayfish. But they 

 finally, after being fed on other diet, took a marked dislike for beef and 

 would often go hungry rather than eat it. I reared a fine pair of these 

 birds in 1903, and after they became able to fly and were set at liberty 



