1 2 Peabody, Nesfitiff of fCrider's Ha-ivk. \ j^ 



scattered individuals on steep banks or in deep ravines, along 

 the creeks and rivers. I am hence justified in considering this 

 region unfavorable to the Buteos, yet I have found B. boreaUs 

 krideri fairly abundant, while at no season of the year, though 

 constantly on the watch, have I ever seen a typical borcalis, or 

 even a specimen that could be considered in the least degree 

 equivocal. 



To the southwest of the indicated section lies what may be 

 termed the Heron Lake region. From Mankato, which lies in 

 the timber belt above mentioned, for a distance southward of 

 fourteen miles, I was surprised to find, in an exceptionally well- 

 favored region, no Buteo nests whatever. At Lake Crystal 

 (fourteen miles south of Mankato) — a wooded and watered 

 oasis in the waste of surrounding prairie — I found two pairs 

 of krideri breeding. In the vicinity of Heron Lake, a typical 

 prairie region, fifty miles to the south of Lake Crystal and at 

 distances of from one to ten miles from the lake, I have observed 

 some half a dozen specimens of Krider's Hawk ; but, in all this 

 region, no examples of borealis have been noted. The specimens 

 of krideri near Heron Lake undoubtedly breed in the sparse 

 timber along the Des Moines River, whose nearest point to Heron 

 Lake lies about twelve miles away. 



At the central point of the Steele County region, four pairs 

 of breeding birds were found ; in Nicollet County, one ; in Blue 

 Earth County, at Lake Crystal, two. From all these, ten sets 

 of eggs have been taken, eight of which are herein described. 

 All of these nests have come under my personal observation. 



Set I. — Owatonna, Rice County, Minn., May 2, 1S92. Incubation, two- 

 thirds. Locality, a short, deep, wooded ravine, field girt, one-fourth mile 

 from river. Nest evidently second year in use ; of sticks lined with bark 

 strips, grass and adventitious feathers ; not large, but deeply cupped, in 

 triple crotch of elm, forty feet up, midway of the large branches. Two 

 eggs: No. i, rounded oval, 2.26x1.86; many very obscure livid patches; 

 large, dull spots of cinnamon, dispersed; spots of darker capping the 

 larger end; very boreal h like. No. 2, oval, 2.43x1.85; a few vague 

 hieroglyphic markings of dull cinnamon, forming a quasi ring at 

 smaller end, thus resembling eggs of B. s-wainsoni. Both birds near nest. 

 Female on nest, and fully identified. The male demonstrative, but 

 shy. 



